The Pursuit of Happiness
by lilsherlockian1975
Summary: Hermione stumbles across a special type of healing magic whilst hold up at Number 12 Grimmauld Place. Snape is there as well by order of the Ministry. While working to locate a new threat to the Wizarding World, the two of them manage to find a little happiness in each other's arms. One final mission will threaten to end everything they've found. - EWE - HEA - Mind the rating!
1. Chapter 1

_**Business first (read this, it's important!):** Though I never explicitly state when this story takes place, let's put it somewhere between six months to a year after the Battle. (Long enough for Severus to have recovered from Nagini's attack.) And speaking of that, I don't explain how he survived. Sorry, lazy writer that I am, I just wanted to get to the plot and 'good stuff' (which happens very early on). This is very much an AU in some respects, although everyone that died is dead (except Severus) and the final battle happened just as it did in DH. There two big differences, Kingsley is  not the acting Minister for Magic and a huge number of Death Eaters escaped. Keep that in mind going forward. I put Hermione's age at 19, that's just simple math (and I can only do simple math, don't ask me to do anything more complicated!). If the age difference or anything else about the paring bothers you, don't read this story. There is quite a bit of sex. You may find Hermione a bit OOC, that's deliberate and will be addressed. One last thing, there are a LOT of flashbacks (they're in italics). Okay, finally done. Hopefully that will be the longest A/N I ever have to write, sorry. Onto my normal Lilisms..._

 _The story is finished except for polishing and an epilogue that I plan on writing._

 _Huge thanks to darnedchild for betaing this for me. She's wonderful. Also, thanks to MrsMCrieff for giving it a Brit once over. Love these women. But all the mistakes you find belong to me and me alone!_

 _ **Warnings:** Canon typical violence and explicit sexual content, including rimming. (You've been warned!)_

 _I own nothing. Please enjoy. ~Lil~_

* * *

" _Severus_!" Hermione screamed as she ran down the hall. The entire Order of the Phoenix was gathered in the sitting room of Number 12 Grimmauld Place, they all turned their attention to the young witch as she threw herself into the Dark wizard's arms.

"Bloody hell!" Ron exclaimed.

Most everyone else just gasped in surprise. But Hermione ignored them all.

"What the hell do you think you are doing?" Severus whispered angrily into her hair.

"I- I couldn't let you leave…" she started, then sagged against his traveling cloak.

"We've been through this…"

"I couldn't let you leave without letting you know…" She pulled back, stroking his face with trembling hands.

"Miss Granger…" Severus was glancing nervously around the room.

"Stop it! Just stop it! I don't care! I never cared! And if this is to be the last time I ever see you…" Resting her forehead on his chest, she gasped for breath.

"'Mione, what's going on?" Ron asked from behind her.

She looked back up at her wizard, not taking her eyes off of Severus though she addressed her friend. "Bugger off, Ronald."

" _Hermione Granger_ , I cannot believe what I'm seeing..." Minerva McGonagall started, and though she continued, both Severus and Hermione tuned her out.

"You condemn yourself, Miss Granger," Severus said, as he tightened his hold around her waist.

"I don't give two shits," she replied with a devious smile, then she sobered. "If you choose not to come back to me you must understand how I feel. And if you can't return…" Biting her lip as tears streamed down her face, she continued, "...then you need to know how much _you are loved_."

"I knew," he said as he lowered his head. "You would make a horrible spy, my dear, you conceal nothing."

Hermione pulled him down the rest of the way, pressing her lips to his. Once again, the room reacted; gasps, 'oh my gods' and 'bloody hells' could be heard from each of the members as the lovers continued to enjoy their goodbye. Neither seemed to care, at least for the moment.

As Severus released her and pulled back, he cupped her face in her hands. "You, Hermione Granger, are the very best of our world, don't let them tell you otherwise." He stepped back farther, took her hand in his then brought it to his lips, kissing her palm. "Live well, my love," he said just before turning and sweeping down the entry hall and out of the house.

The remaining members of the Order stared as the young witch grabbed onto a wing-back chair, steadying herself. She clutched the hand that Severus had just kissed to her chest as tears poured from her eyes.

Kingsley Shacklebolt spoke up, breaking the oppressive silence. "Let's go. We have a timetable," he said, addressing the room then, turning to Hermione he added, "I will do my best to keep him safe, Miss Granger."

She grabbed the Head Auror by the arm and said, "No matter how badly he's injured, bring him back. Even if you think he's dead, Kings, bring him home to me."

* * *

As everyone started filing out of the house, Molly took Hermione by the hand. "I know you're hurting right now, but I've been left with _very_ specific instructions by a _very_ exacting wizard and I shudder to think what he would do to me if I failed."

The Weasley matriarch started pulling Hermione toward the kitchen, but was stopped by Minerva. "I'd like a word with Miss Granger, Molly," she said, standing in their way.

"I'm sure you would, Minerva, but I'm on a bit of a mission, so if you'll excuse me…" Molly, a formidable woman in her own right, gently pushed the older witch out of the way.

" _Molly!_ " the Transfiguration Professor huffed. "I'm just thinking about a young witches reputation!"

Turning on her heel, Molly stopped only a couple of inches from the older witch. "And I'm only thinking about her heart. You will stay out of this for the time being, Minnie. Things will be clear in due time. In the meantime please check with Poppy and make sure that everyone is in place and ready for casualties."

Hermione was moving as though she was in shock, perhaps she was. Molly sat her down at the kitchen table, pulled out two scrolls and a phial then placed them in front of the younger witch and sat down next to her.

"First things first," Molly said, handing Hermione the phial.

"What is it?"

"Just drink it." Molly knew that her surrogate daughter would have recognised it in a second had she not been grief stricken. "It's a Calming Draught. Severus prepared it."

That did it. Hermione immediately turned it up and drank.

"Good." She untied the larger of the two scrolls. I've been asked to deliver these to you." She handed over the larger scroll.

"I don't feel like reading right now, Molly."

And that told her everything she needed to know about Hermione's state of mind. The young witch had an unending curiosity. "I know, love. But it's important. He wanted you to see this as soon as he left."

Hermione wiped her eyes with the back of her hands and unrolled the parchment. After reading for a few seconds she looked up with horror written on her face and threw it across the table. "What the hell?" she yelled. "That's fucking sick!"

"You must calm down," Molly said as she reached for the witch.

"Why would he ask you to give me this _seconds_ after he left me?" she asked, then realisation dawned on her face. "He told you."

"Yes. Myself, Arthur and Kingsley."

"Why?" she whispered.

"Kingsley had to help prepare the documents and get them notarized. Obviously he needed me to deliver them and I think he asked Arthur for some... advice," she answered somberly.

Hermione shook out of Molly's hand and stood up. "Well, I don't want it! Does he think I'm some kind of whore?" She walked to the kitchen sink.

Molly followed. "Of course he doesn't. He wanted you taken care of, in case…"

"I just want him to come back to me!" she exploded as she turned.

"I know, I know. I want Arthur back too. And Bill and Charlie and George and Ronald." She heaved a great sigh. "And Harry. But Severus asked this of me, and I'll be _damned_ if I will let him down. So you're going to have to get ahold of yourself, Hermione, and listen to what I have to say!"

The look of shock on the young witch's face told Molly that she'd finally gotten through to her. Hermione sat back down at the table in front of the unrolled parchment.

Molly opened the third cabinet to her right and pulled out a bottle of Firewhisky and two glasses. Clearly Severus' Draught hadn't been effective. She sat down next to Hermione and poured about one shot in each of them. "Drink," she said.

"Is that a good idea? I mean with Draught?"

"One drink won't hurt."

They each drank and Molly certainly felt better, she hope that Hermione did as well.

"Three days ago, Severus asked to speak with me. I met him in the library to find Arthur and Kingsley waiting. He informed me of your… relationship." She paused. "I admit, Hermione, I was shocked. Though it does make sense, I suppose."

" _...understand if you don't approve, Molly. I don't expect you to. But I do not believe that I will survive this mission," Severus explained after handing Molly his will._

" _You survived the Dark Lord, but a few Death Eaters…" she started, but her husband interrupted._

" _Molly, we estimate more than fifty have banded together to form The Brotherhood. They all want Severus dead. Once he is seen…" Arthur didn't finish his sentence, he just hung his head._

" _Is this what our Ministry has become? This isn't justice!" she exclaimed. "He shouldn't be involved if that's the case!"_

" _You know none of us agree with this, Molly," Kingsley interjected. "But you know as well as I that they will not be moved. Snape must carry out this last mission to prove his innocence or face a lifetime in Azkaban. We've all been through this."_

 _And they had, at more than one meeting since Severus had returned from the Ministry with the news that he had no choice but to join the fight._

 _Severus moved to stand in front of her. "I have done many things of which I am not proud, Molly. I'm asking for one chance to do the right thing before I leave this world."_

" _Do you love her?" she asked, deep down knowing she would not get an answer._

 _He cleared his throat and took a step back. "She is to get everything. My vault, my patents, my books. Spinner's End, for what it's worth. My books, which I do believe will bring her endless hours of entertainment. There are instructions for a small trunk that is located in the attic of my house. Hermi… Miss Granger will know what to do. It is for Mr. Potter."_

" _Oh… Severus," Molly reached for his hand, unable to resist comforting him._

" _I assure you, Molly, this is not a decision I come to lightly. What I have is of little value, but perhaps she can find some use for it." He reached into his coat and retrieved another rolled piece of parchment. "Please give her this as well," he said, looking at the floor. After walking to the door he turned and addressed the three people in the room, though did not make eye contact with any of them. "I know I have disappointed you all. And I know that my death will hurt her for at least a moment. But I find it hard to regret my actions of the last few months for at least I can die knowing the sweet taste of happiness once in my life." Then he hurried out of the room._

"Even if he never said it, Hermione, I do believe that he loves you," Molly said as she finished. She dried her own tears and poured herself another drink. "I won't ask how it started, it's not my business and no one else's, I might add. But if you want my advice, take his letter, go to your room and read it before we're hit with injured witches and wizards. We need you at your best this night and right now you are still in quite a state." She stood and threw back the drink.

Hermione looked up and managed a very weak smile. "I've never seen you drink before, Molly."

"It's been a hell of a week."

The younger witch picked up both parchments and walked out of the kitchen, looking much more like herself than she had since her wizard had left for the fight and his probable death.

Two minutes after Hermione left the room, Minerva walked in.

"Where is she?" the professor asked.

Molly didn't look up, she stared into her empty glass. "She's gone to her room, Minerva. She needs some time to digest the information I just gave her."

"And what would that be?"

Looking up, Molly managed a sneer that would have made Severus proud. "Since you weren't invited to the meeting, I'd imagine that it is private."

"We may not agree, Molly, but I _do_ have Miss Granger's best interest at heart."

"Well then, I'd advise you to mind your own business and you might want to stop calling her Miss Granger as if she were some firstie you just met. That woman has seen her fair share of misery and death. She deserves some respect."

"She's still a child."

"That's where you're wrong, Minerva. Until you realize that asking what we have of those young people has certainly earned them the right to be called adults, if nothing else, you'll never understand them. Not for a minute." She stood, picking up the bottle of whisky and walked to the cabinets. "Hermione is like a daughter to me and I'm not in the least bit worried about what may or may not have transpired between her and Severus."

"Perhaps you've had too much to drink, Molly."

"Perhaps you've held this grudge against Severus for too long, Minerva." She turned to face the older witch fully. "He didn't kill Albus out of spite or revenge or the joy of killing. He did what was asked of him, just as he always has."

"I never said…"

"No, but you treat him like he's one of _them_. And he is not." She walked past Minerva, when she was almost to the door she said, "Leave Hermione to her thoughts."

Molly walked into the dining room and tried to focus her mind on preparing for the injured. She didn't like arguing with Minerva, she had the utmost respect for the woman, but was tired of the way the older witch treated Severus.

Harry had explained everything whilst Snape was still recovering in St Mungo's. That was enough for Molly and most of the Order, for that matter. Minerva, however, was still harbouring a great deal of resentment over Albus' death. And, in Molly's opinion, a bit of guilt for not realising what Severus had gone through. Molly understood, to a point. She had also anticipated that Minerva would react badly if she ever found out about Severus and Hermione, but Molly had vowed to herself that she would shield the young witch as much as possible while she could.

* * *

Sitting in the middle of her bed, Hermione unrolled the parchment and looked at Severus' elegant handwriting. He'd addressed the letter 'My Little Witch'. One of his many nicknames for her. Tears instantly pricked her eyes once again. Before she could read another word the memory of the night before flooded her mind.

 _Usually Severus came into her room when he deemed it safe. But on this night, Hermione didn't care one bit if they got caught. It could, after all, be their last night together._

 _He answered immediately when she knocked, pulling her in and looking down the hall. Shutting, locking and warding the door, he turned to her and said, "What the hell do you think you're doing?"_

" _Coming to see you, obviously. I do hope your wits are quicker than this tomorrow."_

" _This is an incredibly bad idea, Miss Granger…"_

" _Oh shove it, Severus. I don't care, nor should you. I'm spending the night here whether you like it or not." She folded her arms across her chest in defiance._

" _You are the single most bull headed woman I've ever known in my entire life."_

" _I am, lucky for you." She moved closer as she pulled her tee shirt off over her head revealing nothing underneath._

 _Severus grabbed her by the hips, pulling her to him. "I should send you away."_

" _I'd like to see you try," she said with a smirk._

 _His hands traveled from her hips to her back, so large that they nearly spanned her from neck to tailbone. "Will there ever come a day that I don't want you, little witch?" he said before bending down and nipping softly at her neck._

 _Hermione clung to his shoulders. "By the gods I hope not."_

 _He hummed in approval as he continued to bite and suck at her skin. One hand found her breast, he pinched and pulled at the nipple._

 _She leant back, capturing his lips with hers. When she kissed him he turned them both, pinning her between himself and the door. The impact nearly knocked the breath out of her, or maybe Severus was stealing it from her, at that moment she couldn't tell, and really didn't care._

 _He broke the kiss as he trailed his hand down her stomach to her denim clad centre, pressing hard, causing Hermione to moan. "Always so eager. It's only been two days, Hermione."_

" _Fuck! I need you!"_

 _He chuckled, a sound that both infuriated and excited her. "And you shall have me. But seeing as this is our last night together, I will be dictating things."_

" _How is that different than every other night?" she asked, though it wasn't really true. Their first time together he had given her complete control… for a while, at least. "And, please Severus, don't say things like that."_

 _With a gentle kiss to her forehead he said, "Okay, dear one. I will try to refrain. But I'm in charge this evening." The look in his eyes told her she was in for an eventful night._

" _Have I ever denied you anything, Severus?"_

" _No. And you have no idea the restraint it has required from me not to take full advantage of that gift." He continued to press against her quim through her jeans, driving her closer towards oblivion._

" _Who says I don't want to be taken advantage of?"_

 _His dirty laugh nearly caused her to come right then and there. "Be careful with your words."_

" _I was being careful."_

 _He stopped rubbing her and quickly unbuttoned and unzipped her jeans, then he flipped her around so that she was facing the door, her breasts roughly pressed against the cool wood. "Stay there unless I tell you otherwise." As he pulled away, she felt his hands on her hips, tugging her jeans down until she could step out of them, then she felt his mouth pressed against the crack of her arse and she knew he was kneeling behind her. "No knickers this evening, Miss Granger?"_

" _You know me, sir, I do like to be prepared," she said, well, grunted as she felt herself being spread open and the tip of his wand lightly touch her arsehole. The cleansing spell did its job as it tingled against her tender flesh. She knew what was coming next and she couldn't wait._

 _She heard his wand drop to the floor then felt his hand smoothing up her thighs. Severus pulled her toward him and spread her cheeks once again. The first touch of his tongue to her tight hole caused her skin to break out in goosebumps as she dug her nails into the wood. He traced her smallest opening several times before moving to her dripping cunt and driving his tongue into her with more force than should have been possible._

" _Gods!" she yelled as she banged her head against the door._

 _His mouth found her arsehole once again, this time snaking inside with explosive results. Hermione pushed against Severus' face as he fucked her tight opening with his tongue. His hands kneaded her buttocks almost painfully as he ate her arse._

" _Fucking hell!"_

 _Moving back to her pussy, Severus sucked her clit into his mouth. She was on the brink of orgasm when he pulled away once again, working his way through her folds with that talented tongue. He didn't let up, arse, clit, entrance, he alternated driving the witch wild. Hermione didn't know men fancied going down on woman so much until the first time Severus had done it. There were nights that he spent so much time with his face buried between her thighs, she was sure his nose would be pruned. Just as she heard herself begging him to let her come, pleading for release, his thumb found her clit as his tongue lapped at her opening._

" _Soak my face, Hermione!" he whispered against her pussy causing her to let go completely._

 _She came screaming, panting against the wood, her body shaking almost violently._

 _Then he was gone and Hermione nearly lost her balance, but he was back in an instant to steady her, holding her upright against the door. He turned her back around and pinned her hands above her head._

" _Ready for more, little witch?"_

" _Always," she panted._

 _The smile he gave her would have scared the shit out of her a few years before, but she'd grown to love it as much as she had the man himself. He lowered his head, taking one of her nipples into his mouth, keeping his eyes trained on her face the entire time._

 _Hermione buried her hands into his lank hair as he switched sides. Once her mind started to clear, her instincts told her to beg him to fuck her, but she also knew it would fall on deaf ears. The man had a plan and he would not deviate from it. He was still fully dressed for Merlin's sake!_

 _Releasing her nipple, he picked her up bridal style and carried her to the bed. He laid her down then untucked his shirt, pulling it over his head rather than unbuttoning it, leaving him in nothing but his black trousers. Sitting down next to her, he trailed a finger down her sternum as he studied her body. He seemed to be committing it to memory. Perhaps he was._

" _You body is a wonder, Hermione," he said almost absently. "It's perfect."_

 _She knew that was a lie, or at least an exaggeration. She was scarred and too thin. Her breasts were a bit too small, her arse a bit too big. But Severus, since the beginning of their tryst, had insisted that she was utter perfection._

 _His hand rested on her belly just above her pubis. "You've brought me so much joy," he said, though there was no happiness in his eyes._

 _She couldn't speak. He was sad and so was she, but she wanted this one last night of passion and unspoken love to hold onto, just in case._

" _I'm a letch. A depraved bastard. I should have never touched you." His hand parted her wet folds causing her to buck. As sensitive as she was from the orgasm she had just had, she still wanted more. "But since I have accepted my depravity..." He slipped two fingers easily into her passage, instantly finding her g-spot, a thing she had been certain was the stuff of legend before her first night with Severus. No one else had been able to make her come undone with a single questing digit._

 _He leant forward until his lips touched her ear. "I want watch you, Hermione. I want the image of you coming to be seared into my mind so that when I take my last breath I can call up this memory and be with you one last time. I can watch the ecstasy on your face and hear you calling out my name as I cross over."_

 _As he pressed against her walls in the most perfect way, Hermione felt herself start to tighten. Then his fingers twisted and turned. He circled her clit with his thumb and she fell once again. His words, an odd mixture of somber and erotic, just added to her desire. It hadn't taken long for her to realise that his voice was just another tool he used to play her like a finely tuned instrument. In just a few short months he'd learned every inch of her body better than any of her previous lovers._

 _She called out his name, gripping the duvet as she ground her cunt against his hand. Distantly she was aware of him whispering his encouragement. "_ Perfect. That's it, little witch. Give me more. Magnificent."

 _When she opened her eyes, she found Severus cleaning his fingers in his mouth, a sight that would have once embarrassed the hell out of her but now drove her mad with want._

" _Thank you, my beauty. That was exactly what I needed," he said as he lay down next to her, pulling her into his arms and kissing her sweetly just before she felt herself drifting off to sleep._

 _Hours later she woke to find Severus staring at her. "What time is it?" she asked._

" _A little after one."_

 _Stretching, she wrapped her arms around his back. As she skimmed her hands down his hips she found him naked. "You've lost your trousers, Professor."_

" _They aren't comfortable to sleep in."_

" _You weren't sleeping."_

" _I found I didn't want to waste my time." He ghosted his knuckles across her cheek. "Don't marry Weasley."_

" _Severus…"_ Not this again!

" _No, listen, I have my reasons."_

" _I'm not marrying anyone!" She sat up, pulling her knees to her chest._

 _Severus sat up behind her, sweeping her hair off of her back he whispered, "He's beneath you, Hermione."_

 _She shrugged him off. "I don't want to marry him, you idiot. It'd be like marrying my brother." Somehow she managed to suppress the involuntary shiver that the thought of marrying Ronald Weasley caused._ Gross _._

 _His fingers danced down her spine, reigniting her recently sated lust. But she wanted to speak, if only for a moment, before they made love._

" _Severus?"_

" _Yes…" he answered before placing butterfly kisses on her back._

" _If this wasn't happening, if you were free and no one was forcing you to participate in tomorrow's mission, what would become of us?" She'd never asked the question before. They had never really discussed their relationship, or the lack thereof. A single fight, once, and he had assured her that she was important. That was as much as she had gotten. There was really no point. In the beginning it was all passion and pent up aggression and boredom. It was release and relief. Then, when the mission began to take shape, it was soon realised that Severus' life was all but forfeit. He had never made promises he couldn't keep, and Hermione appreciated that. But she wanted - needed - for this one night, to live the fantasy that they could have some kind of future- the possibility of a life together._

 _After what seemed like forever he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into his chest, his legs bracketing her body as he spoke. "In another life, Hermione, I would have you. If my past could be forgotten, my sins forgiven, I would make you mine. I would put you in the prettiest cottage, buy you the finest things, provide you with the best education possible and nurture your magnificent mind. If I were a clean man, a man without the stain of Darkness, I would marry you and put my child in your belly." He lovingly stroked her stomach. "But I am none of these things. My past is beyond forgiveness and my name would bring you shame and dishonour." With a kiss to her bare shoulder, he added, "I can give you nothing, Hermione, but this…" He trailed his hand to her mound. "And only that for a few more hours."_

 _Hermione turned in his arms and saw the sadness in his eyes. Straddling his hips she pushed him down onto the mattress as her tears dripped on his chest. "Can we pretend that it doesn't have to end?"_

 _He smiled, a genuine smile, and nodded. "Anything you want, little witch."_

" _If that's the case, then I want all those things."_

" _Then they are yours. As am I."_

" _Why is life so cruel?" she whispered as she laid her head on his chest._

" _I thought we were pretending," he said as he smoothed down her hair._

 _She didn't reply, just kissed his pectoral muscle as she stroked his side._

" _I don't have an answer, Hermione. For me, I know I deserve it. But you, dear one, do not." His hands slid up and down her back, over her arse and back again. "You are the least deserving of cruelty of any person I've ever met. This is_ my _doing. If I'd just been stronger..."_

 _She sat up. "Then I'd never have known. And neither would you."_

" _The question is which is worse: not knowing or knowing and losing?"_

" _I don't have an answer, Severus." She was done talking._

 _Scooting back, she placed herself between his legs and took his semi-hard cock in hand. With a kiss to the tip, she looked up his long, pale body and caught his eyes. They were still a bit sad, but now the fire that she'd grown used to seeing just as their evenings would start had settled in. She lowered her mouth, taking as much of him as she could, which in his current state was a good deal (it was her only real chance to do so). Once he was fully hard she'd never be able to get him completely into her mouth. She heard him moan in appreciation. There was something about directly causing his cock to harden that aroused Hermione beyond measure._

 _She couldn't imagine finding another wizard that would have this effect on her body or her soul, for that matter. The very idea made her stomach turn._

 _After a few more passes, Severus was grunting and thrusting into her mouth and she knew it was time. Letting go she kissed the tip one more time, then moved to straddle him once again._

" _Are you going to ride me, little one?"_

" _Until you can't remember your name," she said as she coated the head of his cock in her juices. They moaned in unison as she lowered herself and he filled her completely. Bracing herself on his thighs, Hermione started slow, just how he liked it, knowing she had to make this last. "Severus…" she whispered as his hands traveled up her legs to her hips. He gripped her tight enough to bruise and she hoped that he did- hoped that he left some evidence of himself on her._

" _Fuck me, witch!" he grunted. It was out of character for him. During sex he would whisper filthy suggestions in her ear to make her come. He'd compliment her and her body and sometimes tell her to wait for him- not to come until he said. Often he'd moan and almost always, at least after their first week together, he'd say her name in a breathy chant as he emptied himself inside her, but he was rarely so vocal during the act. "Harder, Hermione! Gods woman, don't stop!"_

 _She complied, leaning forward planting her hands on his chest and driving her hips into his. The change in angle caused her sore clit to rub against his pelvic bone, electrifying her entire body. Suddenly, Severus sat up, gripping her by the back of the head with one hand and kissing her breathless. He used his other hand as leverage to drive up into her, lifting them both off the bed._

" _Come for me! When you shatter around me it's the sweetest feeling in the world. I need to feel it one more time," he spoke in her ear seconds before she let go and wave after wave of white hot ecstasy took over._

" _Oh gods! Sever-us!"_

 _She was aware of him flipping her onto her back and heard his whispered praise for her tightness, her heat. Then he was inside her again, thrusting brutally, chasing his end. She wrapped her arms around his back and held on tightly as tears poured from her eyes. He wasn't hurting her, much. It was the pain of knowing these were their last moments together that was breaking her in half. Biting her lip to keep from openly sobbing, Hermione tasted copper as she felt his thrusts lose all finesse. There was no whispering chant this time. He shouted her name when he came deep inside her._

 _Collapsing next to her in a heap, Severus pulled her into his arms. "Sleep, little witch. I'll wake you in time to get to your room."_

 _And he did. He woke her just before dawn, kissed her and said goodbye before walking out of the room and not looking back._

A knock at the door and the voice of Ginny Weasley saying her name pulled Hermione from the bittersweet memory.

"What is it, Gin?" she answered as she shoved Severus' unread letter and will under her pillow.

"Mum sent me to get you. We need your help downstairs."

It had already started…

* * *

 _So, that's chapter one. Lots more to come, including how these two came to be and what's going on with the Brotherhood. Hermione has a 'special talent' in this story (other than seducing Potion's Masters). We'll find out about that in chapter two. Please let me know what you think. Thanks so much for reading. ~Lil~_


	2. Chapter 2

_I want to apologize ahead of time for the length of this chapter. It's ridiculously long. But no matter what I did, I couldn't find a better place to end it. I tried to cut it in half and trim it down, but... just ended up frustrated. We get some flashbacks to the beginning, before Severus and Hermione's relationship started. Hope this isn't confusing, mind the italics. Hermione is doing a lot of remembering. Future chapters should be a more reasonable length._

 _Thanks so much for the reviews, favs and follows. It means so much that you're enjoying my story. Thanks again to darnedchild for beting._

 _No warnings this time._

 _I own nothing. Enjoy ~Lil~_

* * *

Hermione found George Weasley standing in the hallway, looking completely fine, with a sideways grin on his face. "How did I know you'd be the first one back?" she said as she approached the redhead.

Covering his heart with his hand, he feigned a look of sorrow. "You damage me, Hermione!" He put an arm across her shoulder and guided her into the dining room which now served as a makeshift infirmary. "Besides, I come bearing Malfoys," he said gesturing to the two occupied beds in the room.

She stood stunned for a moment. _He did it! Severus got them out_ , she thought as she watched Poppy and Molly fussing over Draco and Narcissa Malfoy. She couldn't believe he'd managed it so quickly.

"Well, I must take my leave," George said with a flourish.

She grabbed his arm and stopped him. "Did you see Severus?"

Sobering, just a bit, he answered, "He brought them both to the meeting point, then went right back into the building. I'm sure he's fine."

Hermione nodded. "And Harry and Ron?"

George smirked. "Remember them do ya?"

"Of course…"

"I'm teasing, Hermione. The younger wizards and witches are on the perimeter. Only Aurors and folks like your Severus are allowed in the thick of things." He paused as his eyes grew stormy before adding, "For the moment."

Suddenly Poppy Pomfrey showed up, dragging Hermione away asking her to do her 'special healing'. So she wished George good luck and joined the matron next to Mrs. Malfoy's bed.

The witch looked awful. She was pale and dirty, her once beautiful hair was matted and filthy. An ugly yellow and green bruise decorated her left cheek and she was sporting a split lip. Draco didn't look much better; Hermione had never seen him so thin and frail. He too was bruised and battered.

"She seems to have gotten the worst of it, dear," Poppy explained.

"She's been tortured," Draco interjected. "The Carrows have been taking turns with her. They Crucio'd her. Sometimes they Imperio'd Father and made him do it. They've been doing it every so often for weeks."

"Where is your father, Draco?" Hermione asked.

"He was taken to another part of the building just before the Order showed up. Severus was going back to find him after he left us with Weasley." He watched his mother writhing in pain for a few seconds then looked back up at Hermione. "They said you have some... special ability. Can you help her?"

"I can try," she answered before rubbing her hands together and bringing them to her her lips. She whispered the incantation that would focus her power, her magic, into her hands, concentrating only on the words and pushing out everything else. In that moment she didn't think about Draco's pleading eyes, or Molly and Poppy's hopeful stares. Her mind shut out any and all thoughts of Severus and his wellbeing. She couldn't even hear Mrs. Malfoy's gasping cries. All she knew were the words she spoke and her magic. Once her hands had warmed she placed them on the older witch's head and shifted her focus to finding the Source of the torment. It didn't take long.

 _There_.

Hermione located the centre of the damage. The Death Eaters must have been methodical in their curse placement to keep her right on the edge of sanity, considering how long they'd had her and her family held captive. Mrs. Malfoy's mind was starting to slip. It was on the cusp of permanent damage. Sending more of her healing magic through the connection, Hermione concentrated on repairing the fragmented pieces of the witch's mind until she could see that it was once again whole. When she removed her hands, she immediately lost consciousness.

She woke to find her head in Molly's lap as the older woman tried to force feed her chocolate.

"...too much of yourself. For Merlin's sake! If you keep this up there'll be nothin' left of you! You were at it for almost twenty minutes!"

"Molly, I'm fine! I've never fainted before, but I _have_ come close. Though in fairness, I've never tried to repair the effects of the Cruciatus before." She tried to stand, but the fussing witch wouldn't allow it without her help.

"Can you walk?" Molly asked as they got to their feet.

"Of course I can!" Hermione huffed, though in all fairness, she was a bit freaked out about fainting like that. Severus' many warnings kept ringing in her head.

Molly kept her hand on Hermione's back as they walked out of the room. "Let's get you to the library. I had Ginny take in tea and more chocolate. It should be waiting for you. I'm afraid you'll be needing your strength tonight."

Once in the library, Molly helped her to the beaten down settee and poured her a strong cup of tea with plenty of sugar. "I'm really okay, Molly. Go see to Draco. He was so focused on his mother, I don't think he cared about his own health at all."

"Poppy has him well in hand."

"I just need to rest," she assured the older witch. "I'll be back out as soon as my magic returns."

"Fine. But eat that," Molly ordered, pointing to the chocolate. "Severus made it."

"I know who made it," she said to the retreating woman.

She heard voices in the hall as Molly left, then she was joined by Ginny.

"Do you need anything else, Hermione?"

"No, Ginny, I'm fine." She tried to smile to reassure her friend, but she wasn't sure she managed it.

"Do you want to talk about what Snape did?"

"I'm sorry?"

"I can't imagine how he managed to… I'm just saying that if you need to talk to someone about… _whatever_ he did to you..."

"Severus didn't _do_ anything to me. If you must know, I seduced him!"

The younger witch gasped.

"He told me 'no' a dozen times before finally giving in and…" Hermione stopped. It was none of their business. What she and Severus had shared was personal and private; it was special and she wouldn't have it tainted by their suspicious minds. "I don't need to talk to anyone, Ginny. I've not been damaged by Severus' _affections_. I will be harmed beyond repair if he doesn't return, but he has been nothing but good to me since he moved into this house." A slight exaggeration. He was still _him_ , of course, but it was the essence of the truth. "Thank you for the tea, but now I need to rest."

Ginny left the room, a look of pure confusion written on her face.

Picking up the chocolate with a sigh, Hermione thought about Mrs. Malfoy and hoped that she was okay. After a few minutes she let her mind drift to the first time she used her healing spell on another person…

 _A frustrated sigh came from the end of the long table that had been moved into the library so that she and Severus could spread out their work and, hopefully, find the hidden location of the Brotherhood._

" _It hurts you, doesn't it?" she asked, not looking up from her parchments._

" _What hurts?" Snape asked._

 _She looked at him. "Your neck or shoulder. Perhaps your whole arm. I imagine it causes headaches as well. It's the bite. I notice that it gets worse late at night. You refuse to take potions because they make you drowsy, so you just deal with the pain. Lots of sighing, the occasional wince. You're very good at hiding it, but we've been doing this for nearly a month, Professor, I've learned your tells." As she finished, she stood and started rubbing her palms together, out of nervousness, if nothing else._

" _You, Miss Granger need to learn to mind your own business. It seems the war taught you nothing," Snape growled._

" _I think I can help."_

" _Don't be absurd. The Healers at St Mungo's did everything possible to ease the pain. I'll feel this for the rest of my life."_

" _I found a book..." She glanced up at the over-filled shelves._

" _Of course you did. Nosey Gryffindors…"_

" _It spoke of an ancient form of healing magic. The incantation transfers and focuses the witch or wizard's magic into their hands." She walked over to the farthest corner of the room, pulled the book from the shelve and brought it back. "I've only tried it on myself." Tugging up her sleeve, she showed him her arm._

 _He finally put down his quill and gave her his attention. "I had heard her bragging, but never…" he trailed off as he reached over and very nearly touched the faded white words on Hermione's flesh. Never taking his eyes off of her arm, he said, "_ Bella - trix _." She'd heard people curse the witch many times before, but never had Hermione heard someone manage to do it simply with the utterance of her name. It caused shivers to alight down her spine._

" _Yes." She pulled back her arm and adjusted her sleeve. "The blade was cursed. Until a few weeks ago, it would bleed every so often. It had scabbed, but never scarred. It just wouldn't heal. I found the incantation and practiced it. Then..."_

" _And then you used it on yourself?" he asked, angrily. "On a cursed scar?"_

" _After I did it, my arm healed and never bled again."_

 _Snape turned his focus onto the book as he muttered, "So like you to try an unknown spell on yourself. Dangerous, impetuous…"_

" _I was desperate, sir."_

 _He looked up. "Indeed."_

" _At any rate, it worked and I believe I can ease your suffering as well." She sat back down in front of her parchments filled with Arithmancy equations and triangulation. They had the location of several abductions known to have been carried out by the Brotherhood as well as several rolls of intel gathered since the war. She and Severus were given the task of locating the evil group's secret location._

 _The Ministry would have the public believe that the majority of the Death Eaters had been apprehended during the Final Battle, but that simply wasn't true. Too many fighting for the Light had died and many Death Eaters had fled only to regroup and form this new alliance. They had captured the Malfoys and several others loyal to the Light. There had been murders as well._

 _Nearly a half an hour passed. Snape had long since finished reading the marked passage in the book, closed it and pushed it aside. He had been, by all accounts, focused on the parchment in front of him when he looked up again. "According to that text, you'd have to touch me, Miss Granger. Touch my skin. That would be the height of impropriety."_

 _She looked up, confused. "In what way?"_

" _You are a child and my former student, of course."_

Arse _. "How many of the mediwitches and Healers were your former students, sir? And I'll thank you not to call me a child again. If you're not interested, fine. But don't insult me."_

" _You are what? Seventeen?"_

" _I'll be twenty. But if you count the Time Turner…"_

" _Which I refuse to do. I can't believe Minerva..."_

" _Fine then," she interrupted, not wanting to listen to him rant about her recklessness. "I'm nineteen."_

" _As I said. A child."_

 _She wanted to snap at him, she'd fought in a bloody war, for fuck's sake! But she bit her tongue. "What about a medical procedure is inappropriate?"_

 _He turned and sneered. "You know exactly to what I am referring. I'd need to remove my garments and you would be touching me in a personal manner._ That _, Miss Granger is the very definition of inappropriate."_

" _Only if we make it so."_

" _The answer is no!"_

" _You brought it up again, Professor."_

" _And I am ending it again."_

 _Checking the clock on the mantle, Hermione tried not to grimace. It was only half past nine; there was no way she could beg off for the night. She had several more uncomfortable hours of research with the acerbic wizard to look forward to._

 _Twenty minutes later Bill Weasley came in with new reports. There had been three sightings in the last two days. Hermione started inputting the new data into the proper fields on her parchment as Severus combed over every detail of the reports. An hour later he stood up and stretched. She watched him wince, pain etched on his face as he tried to work out the obvious soreness in his neck and shoulder._

"Stubborn fool," _she mumbled._

 _Suddenly he was right behind her. "What did you just say?" he growled._

 _Yes, once was a time his words, his inflection, would have scared the life out of her, but that time was no more. She turned to face him. "I said that you're being a stubborn fool, Professor!"_

" _I think you should remember who you're talking to, girl!" The words came out in a low dangerous whisper, had he not been less than six inches away from her she might have missed them._

" _And I think you're inappropriately close, sir."_

 _He pulled back and stared at Hermione as if she'd grown an extra head. His eyes didn't move from hers for more than a minute, and_ she _certainly wasn't looking away. It was like the world's most intense staring contest._

" _You really aren't frightened of me, are you?"_

" _Not in the least."_

" _Why not? You used to be."_

" _Then I met the real monsters, sir. They tortured me. They carved letters into my skin and they threatened to rape me. All you ever did was intimate and ignore me. Oh, and of course make fun of my teeth. Turns out you're not so scary after all," she answered defiantly._

 _His shoulders relaxed noticeably as one side of his mouth quirked up into something inbetween a smirk and a smile. "Well said." He reached up and untying his cravat. "You'll tell no one about this."_

 _She almost laughed at the absurdity of it all. She'd just told the most feared Headmaster in Hogwarts history that he wasn't at all scary and he was suddenly unbuttoning his shirt._ Life is strange, _she thought. "Of course, sir." She opened the book and found the correct page. It wasn't necessary, she had the spell memorised, but she had once read that some actors kept copies of their scripts hidden on stage as a sort of crutch. She understood the feeling at that moment, as she watched her former Professor unbutton his shirt, though he didn't remove it, and felt the nerves settled into the pit of her stomach._

 _Snape locked and warded the door with a flick of his wand as she approached him._

 _With a needless glance to the book, Hermione started rubbing her hands together, completely avoiding Snape's eyes. She hadn't lied, it wasn't false bravado, she wasn't afraid of him, but she didn't want to fail. Failure was still her biggest fear, especially in front of this man._

 _He stayed surprisingly quiet and still whilst she spoke the incantation into her hands. As soon as the words started leaving her mouth she was easily able to tune him out and focus solely on her magic and power. Her hands soon warmed and she looked up to find him watching carefully._

" _Where does it hurt most?" she asked, though she sounded detached, even to herself._

 _He sat down and motioned to the side of his neck. "The muscles in my neck directly over the bite and the back of my head."_

 _With a nod, she walked forward; he parted his knees obligingly. She stepped closer and cupped the back of his head with one hand and placed the other on the rough, scarred skin of his throat. Closing her eyes, she searched for his pain but only found walls._

" _Stop Occluding, sir. I can't help you if you're hiding it."_

 _It took a few moments, but gradually she felt him give way and found his pain. It was excruciating. She didn't experience it, exactly, but she could sense it on a certain level. Pouring her magic into the Source, Hermione willed it to stop hurting him. She practically begged the pain to end. The book had been vague about what to do once in 'contact' with the Source. She was, somewhat, playing it by ear._

 _Time didn't really seem to move while she was inside Snape's… 'pain'? or wherever she was. She just kept sending more and more of her magic into it, certain that she nearly had it all. A light-headedness started to overcome her, but she ignored it, then suddenly she felt her hands being pulled away. She fought against it, almost instinctually. "I'm not finished!" she argued._

" _Oh yes you are, Miss Granger! You will deplete your magical reserves if you aren't careful!" Snape shouted as he dragged her to the settee and roughly tossed her down. "Stay there until I get back."_

 _She couldn't have moved if she had wanted to, she was far weaker than she had realised. A few minutes later he returned with tea and chocolate, muttering, "Damn fool girl."_

 _Hermione silently accepted the food and drink, then drifted once she'd had her fill. Waking up, she found him, once again, seated at the table, bent over a stack of parchments._

" _How long did I sleep?" she asked._

" _Less than an hour. You should take yourself to bed, Miss Granger. You will do me no good me in this condition."_

" _I'm sure I can still…"_

 _He stood abruptly and walked to the door. "Not this evening."_

 _She decided to cut her losses. Once she was right in front of him she started to ask, "How's your…?"_

 _He held up a hand to stop her question. "What you did is nothing short of remarkable. But you must learn to use this magic in measure. You could have done lasting damage to yourself."_

" _It was the first time I used it on someone else."_

" _Indeed. But you must promise me that you will not attempt it again unless I am present."_

 _Her instinct was to tell him that she was an adult and could do as she pleased, but then she saw the concern in his eyes. She'd never seen him look so…_ soft _before. "Of course, sir." She turned to leave._

Hermione poured herself another cup of tea and tried to rest as much as she could knowing that it wasn't likely that she'd be getting much sleep in the upcoming hours. Ten maybe fifteen minutes later, there was a knock on the door. Draco Malfoy stuck his head in when she said 'come in'.

"Granger, I just wanted to thank you for… whatever it was you did for my mother. Mrs. Weasley said you needed your rest so…" He made to leave, but Hermione stopped him and asked if he'd have a cuppa with her.

After sitting down and taking his cup, he looked around uncomfortably.

"I know this isn't your kind of place, Malfoy, but…"

"Oh no, it's not that at all. Just…" He paused and concentrated on the chipped piece of porcelain in his hands. "It's been so long since I had tea. This is my third cup and I'm afraid it's going to disappear." He laughed. "Mrs. Weasley kept trying to feed me, but all I really wanted was a cup of tea."

"Merlin Draco! I'm so sorry, I should have thought before I spoke." She felt like an utter arse.

"No, I mean, it's fine. Nothing like months of captivity to change your outlook on life."

Hermione didn't really know how to respond to that. Hell, it was odd enough that she was having a cordial conversation with Draco Malfoy, but she had an important question to ask, and she hoped that she could get some information out of the wizard. Even though George had just reassured her that Severus was fine, she still had to ask.

"Can," Hermione started, but paused and swallowed. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"How was Severus? When he got you and your mum out was he injured or...?"

The Slytherin gave her a long appraising look, then he smirked. "You're sleeping with him."

" _Bloody hell_ ," she cursed and shook her head. "I need to up my game if I'm going to keep dealing with you snakes."

He laughed. "Sorry, but you wouldn't have _ever_ called him Severus unless you two were very close and you looked like you were going to be sick when you asked if he was hurt." He looked across the room. "It sort of makes sense now."

"What does?"

"He made me promise not to let you leave the house. He said: 'No matter what, don't let Granger leave and try anything stupid'."

" _That bastard_."

"Yeah. He is." The blond laughed again, even harder. "But I _did_ promise. Of course I'd have promised to marry Longbottom's grandmother at that moment. You understand that I _will_ have to keep my word."

"I'll kill him if he survives."

"Good luck with that." He got up and walked across the room. "So how long?" he asked.

She raised an eyebrow.

"How long have you been shagging our former professor, Granger?"

"I'm not telling you anything personal, Draco. I don't think Severus would appreciate that."

"True."

"Can I ask a question?"

"You can; that doesn't mean I have to answer it," he said with a shrug.

"How'd he find you and your mother so fast? The raiding party hadn't been gone an hour when you two showed up."

"Oh, that's right, you're Muggle-born."

She must have given him a hateful look because he threw his hands up in the air defensively and said, "No, I don't mean like that. I never really cared about all that pure-blood bullshit. That was Father's doing." Hanging his head a bit, he added, "And me being an arsehole, let's not forget about that. I was talking about magical god parentage though." He walked back over and sat next to her on the settee. "During the naming ceremony, Severus became my godfather but also my protector, in a matter of speaking."

"How do you mean?"

"It's old magic, blood magic, actually. If he's close enough to me, within say a hundred feet or so, he can sense my location, down to the inch."

"Goodness."

"I know. There are other things too. Like he can sense if I'm in mortal danger. But there's a distance limitation on that as well. Also, when I sire an heir, he'll know the sex the minute of conception."

"Really?" she asked, wide eyed.

"No. Of course not, Granger." He smirked.

"You arse!" she said, laughing. _Gods, it feels good to laugh._

"Yeah, but you should have seen your face."

Thankfully, after Draco left Hermione managed to lie down and rest, if not sleep. She felt her magic restoring itself fairly quickly, thanks to Severus' chocolate. He had approached her about the magical candy the second time she had healed him. He also had a theory (and a favour to ask though he would never have called it that).

" _Miss Granger," Snape said as they gathered to start working one evening about a week later. "I've been thinking about your issues with magical depletion and I prepared this." He handed her something small and square, wrapped in tinfoil._

" _What is it?"_

 _He rolled his eyes. "Most people open things when they want to know what they are."_

 _Hermione huffed and unfolded the foil. "Chocolate?"_

" _Not just chocolate, but chocolate infused with key replenishments. It will help restore you magical reserves faster after you use the healing spell."_

 _She smiled, too tempted to let the moment pass. "You made me magic candy," she said flirtatiously._

 _Shaking his head with a sigh, Snape reached to take it back._

" _No! It's mine now!" she protested, jerking away from him._

" _Not if you're going to act like a toddler about it."_

" _Does this mean you're going to let me do it again?"_

 _He ignored her question. "This ability, you've stumbled upon, Miss Granger, it seems to be innate."_

" _Really? What do you mean?"_

" _I've researched the type of magic you are using. No just anyone could do it. Poppy, for instance, you could show her the spell - she could learn the incantation by heart - but without the innate abilities you seem to possess, I believe nothing would happen."_

 _That's when it dawned on her. "You tried it."_

 _He rolled his eyes and nodded his head. "Got it in one. Five points to Gryffindor, Miss Granger."_

" _Hmm, too bad we aren't in school, Professor. You've never awarded me points before."_

" _Don't get used to it," he said, with sneer. "As I as saying, there are a couple possible explanations for this. First one being that you simply have a knack for it, as I do with wandless magic and_ _Legilimency."_

" _You can do wandless magic?" She found herself a little breathless._

 _He held up a hand and flipped his wrist and she heard the door lock. Another wrist flip and she felt a subtle shift in the room's air indicating that it had been warded._

" _No foolish wand waving, then?" she commented._

 _Snape simply raised an eyebrow._

That was bloody sexy… All right, Hermione, get ahold of yourself. " _And the other explanation?"_

" _That you are empathic," he stated plainly, as if that wasn't a life-changing sentence._

 _She stared at the wizard, wide-eyed until he seemed to take pity on her._

" _I don't actually believe that that is the case or if it is, that you have the full scope of that ability. If so, you would be even more in tune with the emotions of the people around you. I believe that you have only just scratched the surface of… whatever you possess, Miss Granger. My advice would be to keep this close to your chest and be careful with whom you share your healing magic."_

" _I shouldn't tell the Order?"_

" _No, I didn't say that. Poppy should know as well as Molly. But be prepared."_

" _For what?"_

 _He actually seemed puzzled. "I have no idea. But it's your magic, remember that. When you share it, you do so freely. Don't ever let anyone take advantage of you, Miss Granger."_

 _That statement clearly came from personal experience. "That's good advice, thank you, sir."_

" _And that brings us to…" He paused, clearly struggling with something. "Do you think you could do something other than alleviate pain?"_

" _I could certainly try."_

 _He stood. "I will need your word that you won't mention this to anyone, Miss Granger."_

" _Of course, Professor. I already made you that promise."_

 _He nodded, seemingly satisfied. "I've never quite regained full strength in my left side."_

" _It's only been a few months."_

" _True. But I don't have time to let myself heal… naturally."_

" _What do you mean?"_

" _Nevermind that. I need my left arm and leg at full strength. Can you help me?"_

" _As I said, I can only try."_

" _I will have to remove my clothes, you understand."_

 _Hermione suppressed a sigh. "Obviously."_

" _And you may have see my…Dark Mark in order to deal with my arm. Will that be a problem?"_

" _Why would I care? I know it's there, I've seen it before."_

 _He shook his head. "I am aware. But…"_

" _I'm not a delicate flower and the sooner you stop treating me like one, the sooner we might actually be able to accomplish something." She gestured to the settee. "Now, take off your clothes and lie down."_

 _His jaw tightened and his nostrils flared._

 _She walked over to a high backed chair and picked up an old blanket. "Here," she said handing it to him. "Cover yourself with this. I'll turn my back." After she turned around she added, "But you need to prepare yourself for the fact that I will be touching you if I'm going to find the Source."_

" _I'm well aware of what you will need to do, Miss Granger." He didn't seem to move for several seconds, then finally she heard the rustle of fabric. "The Source?"_

 _She knew he had read the book so he must have been stalling. Fine, she needed a moment to gather herself too. "Of your ailment, sir. The book said it can be fairly obvious or more difficult, depending on what it is that the Healer is looking for. Your pain, for instance, was easy to find once you stopped Occluding. It was like you were halting my progress. But this, since this is weakness not pain that I'm looking for, it might take some searching."_

" _I'm ready," he announced and she turned around to find him lying on the settee, covered in the blanket._

" _Good. What would you like me to start with, your leg or arm?"_

" _Leg, please."_

 _Hermione knelt down beside him. As she moved the blanket aside she had to stifle a gasp. Who would have thought that the stern, buttoned up Potions Master was hiding a beautiful body under all that black fabric? Oh, but he was. Her view of his left hip and side was enough to prove that. He was pale and scarred, but also toned and defined. Thin, but certainly sculpted enough to raise her pulse even higher than it already was. She must have been staring longer than she thought, because he cleared his throat, pulling her eyes back to his face. His expression betrayed nothing whatsoever._

" _Sorry sir. Trying to decide where to...start."_

" _Well get on with it."_

" _You don't find this inappropriate?" she teased, trying to cut some of the oppressive tension in the room._

" _Do what you must. But remember that I have your word, Miss Granger."_

" _I would never tell anyone, Professor. I'm not cold hearted."_

 _He didn't respond at first, just looked at her for several moments. "No. You indeed are not. Quite the opposite, I'd say."_

 _Hermione had no idea how to respond to that. She'd never heard the man say anything so complimentary. Instead she pressed her palms together and started rubbing. After she'd recited the incantation and felt her hands start to warm, she placed them on his hip and magically reached out, seeking the Source of the weakness in his muscles._

 _She found nothing._

 _Moving up his side she continued to search, reaching out and 'looking' for any signs of distress. Once again she found nothing out of order._

" _I'm going to need to move the blanket, sir."_

" _Do what you must."_

 _She pushed it aside and moved her hands, first down his leg, then back up. She didn't really know what she was looking for, but didn't want to fail this man that she'd inexplicably come to care for. He needed her to help restore his strength, quickly, for some reason, and she wouldn't stop until she did._

" _Are you well?" she heard him ask._

" _I'm barely using any magic at all at this point. I'll find it, I promise" she said, determined to do so._

" _Don't over do it."_

 _Blocking him out, she moved up his side, higher than before and over his ribs… still nothing. She then move her hands to his waist, wrapping them around until she touched the little bit of his back that she could reach. She felt something._ Of course! _The problem was in his back and was affecting his leg. Wedging her hand between his back and the sofa, she felt it even more._

" _I need you to roll up onto your side a bit, sir. I think I found it."_

 _He hesitated and she knew why. In the position she was requesting she'd have a perfect view of half of his bottom. But he eventually moved, rolling onto his right side._

" _Mother of Merlin," she whispered, completely without intending to do so. But his arse was simply beautiful._

" _Is there a problem, Miss Granger?"_

" _I don't understand, sir. You seem so skinny, but- but you're not! You're…"_

" _I don't need commentary. You said that you found it, now get to it!"_

" _Of course, sir." She shook herself out of the stupor his lovely arse had created and started rubbing her hands together once again. Once she was ready, she lowered her hands to his ribs and channeled her magic to what she thought was the Source. Within minutes she felt it give way and heard him ask her if she was done. "I believe so. Let me look at your arm now."_

 _He rolled onto his back. "Don't you need a break?"_

" _No. Actually, I feel fine. Perhaps this requires less of my magic than healing pain. I don't know."_

 _He pulled the blanket away from his arm. She felt his eyes following her the whole time. He clearly expected judgement, why she didn't know, but it obviously bothered him. Starting with his shoulder, she worked her way down. Finding the Source about mid bicep she concentrated and eliminated the block that was keeping him from progressing, just like she had with his back. It required even less power to repair the damage to his arm._

 _But she wasn't finished._

 _As she started to move away, she was called to his forearm- to the Dark Mark. Words wouldn't have properly described the all consuming feeling of need that had suddenly overtaken her. She simply_ had _to continue. Placing her hand over the Mark, Hermione forced all of her magical energy into the evil tattoo. On some level she knew what she was doing, though it was mostly instinct - it was all just sort of...happening. She felt him resisting, demanding that she stop, but she was somehow able to overpower him. Seconds or minutes later (she didn't know how long, because time was irrelevant when she was that focused), she was pushed off of him and found herself flat on her back next to the settee, staring up at a very angry Severus Snape._

" _What the bloody fucking hell were you thinking?!" he shouted._

 _She didn't respond, just rubbed the back of her head where it had made contact with the hardwood floor._

" _What have you done?" He was standing, holding the blanket around his waist, his upper body completely bare. "Where is it?" he demanded._

" _Where's what?"_

" _Where is the Mark, you idiot? Where is the magic? You had to have stored it somewhere! You can't have just taken it and...and…" He frantically looked her over, then knelt next to her on the floor. "Take off your clothes!"_

 _She tried to crawl away, but he grabbed her by the ankle. "Gods! You've lost it!" she shrieked._

 _Yanking her back, he pulled her arm towards him and pushed up her sleeve. "It's not there. It has to be somewhere!" After the same treatment to the other arm proved fruitless, he refocused his attention to her body. He jerked up her shirt, exposing her stomach, finding nothing but skin. "Your back! Let me see your back, damnit!"_

" _Professor, calm down and let go of me! I'll check myself for the Mark, but you have to get control of yourself!"_

 _Realisation dawned on his face as he pushed himself back, holding the blanket in place. "Of course." He stood and Accio'd his wand. Waving it at an old footstool, he Transfigured the old piece of furniture into a changing screen. "I'll get dressed. Transfigure that tea tray into a mirror and check yourself, thoroughly."_

 _Hermione nodded and stepped to the other side of the screen. After taking a moment to catch her breath, she did as he asked, Transfiguring the tray into a full length mirror, then undressed. Her body looked just as he had hours before when she had dressed for the day. "There's no Mark, Professor."_

" _Impossible," he hissed. "Look again!"_

" _Well, it's true. Come see for yourself." She couldn't believe she was inviting him to come look at her naked body, but the man clearly thought she was lying._

 _He stepped around the screen, now dressed in his trousers and untucked white shirt, his eyes locked on her bare form. He stared at her body for several seconds. The expression on his face was unreadable, but his eyes… his eyes were on fire. "Turn," he demanded._

 _Hermione turned around, pulling her hair off of her back so he could see that she was free of the tattoo._

" _Where could it be?" he whispered._

 _That's when she realised just how close he really was. Turning to face him again, she covered her breasts with one arm. "It's just gone, sir." She reached for his arm, but he jerked away. "May I see it?"_

" _You should get dressed," he said, though he didn't look away from her body._

 _It should have put her off, but it didn't. She knew what she was feeling, she'd felt it before, though to a lesser degree. The fact that Severus Snape was the wizard eliciting such a reaction from her should have been alarming, but she couldn't find it in herself to care. His body was beautiful and he was looking at her like she was a treasure. She dropped the arm that was covering her breasts and reached for him once again. "I just want to see where it was."_

 _This time he acquiesced, allowing her to take his arm and push up his sleeve. Where there was once an angry blackish-green tattoo, was now flawless pale skin. She ran her fingertips across his flesh and felt goosebumps rise. "Remarkable," she whispered._

" _Quite," he responded. "Now. Put some clothes on. We have much to discuss._ "

* * *

 _All right. I'm actually happy to be rid of this chapter, if I'm honest. It's been driving me a little mad. Hope you all enjoyed it. Please let me know. Thanks so much for reading. ~Lil~_


	3. Chapter 3

_All right, well this is a much more manageable chapter length (I can't guarantee that they will all stay this short). Some important things happen in this one and still more flashbacks explaining the beginning of Hermione and Severus' relationship. If I'm abusing any of your favorite characters, I apologize. It had to be done. I needed someone to oppose the Snape/Herms lovefest. Big thanks to darnedchild for her lightening fast betaing. She rocks my socks. Thank you all for your support. It means the world to me._

 _No warnings this time._

 _I own nothing. Enjoy ~Lil~_

* * *

After checking the clock and realising that she had been in the library for nearly an hour, Hermione walked out into the hallway, wondering why no one had come to retrieve her yet. As she turned and headed towards the kitchen, she was met by Ginny's disapproving glare.

"How's it going?" Hermione asked.

"Well, Luna showed up with a report that there had been very little activity since the Malfoys. It seems that the Order hasn't made their presence known yet," the younger witch explained. "She's still around here somewhere, I think."

"I see." She wondered what Severus was doing inside the house if the Order hadn't engaged the Brotherhood yet.

The two stood awkwardly avoiding eye contact before Hermione decided that she'd had enough of her friend's aggression. "I think I'll get a bit to eat. If anyone needs me, I'll be in the kitchen." She started to walk away.

"Waiting on news of your Death Eater?"

Hermione turned to face the younger witch. "I'm only saying this once, Ginny, so you'd better pay attention. Severus isn't a Death Eater, he doesn't even bare the Mark anymore. I know last year was hard on you, and on all of the students, but it was just as bad for Severus, if not worse. He didn't have much choice but to play along and..."

"He let them hurt us, Hermione!" Ginny shouted as tears poured down her face.

"I know. And I am sorry."

"Is _he_? He's never said a thing."

Hermione sighed. "Look, he's not that sort of man..."

"Well he should be!" the redhead exploded. "That bitch Crucio'd Neville! Her brother almost raped me!"

"And why didn't he?" Hermione shouted back, knowing the answer without ever having heard the story.

Ginny blanched.

"Well?"

The younger witch looked down at her feet. "Sn-Snape stopped him."

Hermione took Ginny's hand, trying to comfort the witch even though she herself was angry and hurt. "He did what he could, Ginny. He helped in the only way possible: he kept you all alive."

The younger witch just shook her head. "I still think he's horrible," she mumbled.

Hermione chuckled. "And trust me when I say, he'd appreciate that compliment."

Ginny smiled weakly through her tears. "How can you love such an ugly, awful git? I thought you maybe had Stockholm Syndrome or something, from having been in that library with him all these months."

"No Ginny, nothing like that."

"Well, what is it then? It can't be his personality."

"Severus is," She thought for a minute, trying to think of how to exactly how to explain him to Ginny. "He's an acquired taste. He can be 'not so horrible' when he tries." With a smirk she added, 'When he tries really, really hard."

Ginny laughed. "I still can't imagine what you see in him."

"You haven't seen his arse. It's a thing of beauty. I'd like to make a mold of it and set it in the corner of my room."

"Ewe! Merlin, Hermione, don't make me sick!"

"You could bounce a Sickle off of it, Gin."

"He… he has a nice body?" Ginny asked, finally looking slightly intrigued.

"No, he has a magnificent body and don't get me started on his prick."

"Good gods, Hermione! What _happened_ to you?"

"I had amazing sex, then I fell in love," she said with a smirk before turning and walking into the kitchen.

After eating a sandwich, Hermione moved to a dark corner and leant up against the cool wall letting her mind drift once again.

 _Things became understandably awkward after the 'naked incident', as she started referring to it. They had talked that night about the possible explanations for his disappearing Mark. Hermione's theory was that it went wherever the pain went when she used the healing magic:_ away _. Snape thought that was a bunch of claptrap (his word). It was made of Dark magic, it didn't simply blink out of existence, he had argued. Finally, two hours and three pots of tea later, they retired to their rooms._

 _After that he started avoiding her at all cost. Hermione, for her part, was having the most unbelievable dreams (and fantasies) about her former professor and his surprising body. She was no blushing virgin. She'd had sex, with more than one person; two wizards and a Muggle from her home town. But there was something completely different about Severus (as she had started referring to him in her mind). He was a_ man _. She couldn't get the image of his body out of her mind. Then there was the look in his eyes when he walked around that screen. None of the boys she'd slept with had ever looked at her like that._

 _The feeling that it had sparked in her didn't end after they had parted ways that night. As a matter of fact, most of the time he was all she could think about. She wanted him, there was no denying that, she just how no idea what to do about it. Especially since he was avoiding her like she had the plague._

 _Four days after she'd rid him of the Mark, she'd had enough. She also had a blistering headache from working for hours by herself trying to decipher surveillance reports without Snape's help and from lack of sleep (also, thanks to him!). He had not come into the library since that night and she had been left to the work of locating the Brotherhood by herself. It was impossible, she needed his help. Besides that, she missed the caustic bugger._

 _After a lengthy pep talk with herself in the mirror, Hermione walked to the attic bedroom where Snape slept and knocked. He answered, looking pissed off at the world (nothing new there)._

" _I need your help," she said._

" _I'm unwell," he replied, focusing on the wall behind her._

" _You're sick?"_

" _Generally that is what unwell means, Miss Granger."_

 _She took a step back and glanced down the stairs, then back at the wizard. "Can I come in for a moment?"_

" _That is an exceedingly bad idea."_

" _You'd rather have this conversation in the hallway? Fine. So, we've seen each other naked…" she started but was stopped when he grabbed her by the upper arm and jerked her into his room._

" _Have you lost your ever-loving mind?" he growled as he pushed her up against the wall._

" _I tried to warn you."_

 _Stepping away, he ran a hand through his hair. "You are the most infuriating witch I've met in my entire life."_

" _Infuriating's better than insufferable."_

" _How?" he asked, a confused look on his face._

" _Because now I make you extremely angry. When I was in school you simply couldn't bear my existence."_

" _You never used to be this cheeky."_

" _It's been more than a year since you had me in class, Professor. I've changed."_

" _What happened to the little girl who wanted nothing more than to please everyone?" he asked, backing up further and taking a seat at the small desk next to the door._

" _Well let's see, shall we? She spent a year running for her life with two ill tempered teenage boys and a Horcrux." Absently shaking her head, she added, "Horcruxes, I suppose." Still having a hard time wrapping her mind around the fact that her best friend had actually been one of those vile creations. Collecting herself, she continued, "She fought in a war and watched her friends die. She wiped her parents memories of her and sent them to another country. Her view of the world has changed."_

 _He studied her for a moment then asked, "What do you want, Miss Granger?"_

You _, she thought. "I can't do this on my own, so you're just going to have to get over the fact that we've seen each other's jibblies."_

 _He actually smirked at her joke, then pretended to look for something on the cluttered desk. "I was only thinking of you. Young woman can…"_

" _Merlin's arse. I'm not a virgin. I've seen men before. And I assume that mine wasn't the first naked body you've seen either! The way I see it you have two choices: either throw me on the bed and shag me until I forget Fractal Arithmancy, or come with me to the library. Charlie just dropped off another set of reports and I need you to help me figure them out."_

 _This time he seemed prepared for her shocking manner of speaking. "Am I supposed to be aghast at your foul language?"_

 _Bringing her hands up to the sides of her head, she rubbed her temples. "I don't care anymore, I just want this to end and I need you to make that happen."_

 _He stood up in front of her. "Do you have a headache?"_

" _Of course I do! I've been staring at reports for the last three days trying to figure out what in the hell they mean!"_

" _Why didn't you just heal yourself?"_

" _Because I made_ someone _a promise!" she growled._

 _He seemed to instantly understand her meaning. "Right. Sit," he said, guiding her to the chair he'd just occupied. "Go ahead." He knelt in front of her._

 _Hermione took a deep breath and started rubbing her hands together. After whispering the incantation, she pressed them to the sides of her head and instantly felt relief. "Oh gods," she moaned as she slumped forward, her head resting on Severus' shoulder. "So much better."_

" _Ah, yes. Well, we should…"_

" _Just a moment longer, please." She put her hand on his arm to keep him still._

 _He didn't respond, but he also didn't move, just allowed her to rest. After about a minute or so, Hermione couldn't help but tempt fate by letting her hand drift up his arm to his shoulder. He still didn't move, so she kept going until her hand made contact with his hair. Digging her fingers into his baby fine locks, she found the nape of his neck._

 _Turning her head slightly, she whispered, "We could still consider the first option. I sure a good shag would make me feel even better."_

 _Snape looked down into her eyes and for a split second she thought he was going to take her up on her offer. "I do believe you are well enough to get to work, Miss Granger," he said, removing her hand from his neck and standing. He turned and swept from the room._

" _It was worth a shot," Hermione mumbled as she followed._

* * *

"There you are, Miss Granger," Professor McGonagall said as she walked into the kitchen. "I've been looking for you."

"No disrespect, Professor, but I'm not in the mood to be chastised at the moment, so if you don't mind…"

"Oh, you poor child. I don't blame _you_. Of course I don't."

Hermione stood. "Well, then if your plan is to badmouth Severus, I'm afraid you're in for even more disappointment. I will not have it."

"He abused his power. He took advantage…"

She was in front of the older witch in less than two seconds. "He did nothing of the sort," she hissed. "I absolutely refuse to justify our relationship to you. And how could you possibly think that this is an appropriate time to have this discussion?"

McGonagall laughed bitterly. "Relationship! That man cares nothing for you, child! Can't you see that? He still pines for a ghost, for Merlin's sake!"

Hermione stepped back and took a deep breath. "I have always had the utmost respect for you, Professor, but you haven't the first clue what he and I have shared. I am not a child and I know how I feel about him. Your words won't change that." She exited the room and stormed back into the library where she hoped she'd be left in peace until she was needed.

It wasn't to be, however, because Harry Potter was waiting for her when she got there.

She ran to him, throwing her arms around him. "Gods, Harry! Are you okay?"

He squeezed her tightly. "I'm fine. I just brought Ron in. He got hit with a nasty hex."

Trying to pull away from him, she said, "He needs me!"

"No! They're still working on him, 'Mione. Molly said she'd come get you if you could help him." He led her to the settee. "Sit and talk to me, please."

"Is something wrong? Is S-Severus…?"

"No. No, at least not that I know of."

Hermione exhaled loudly and slumped back. "Thank Merlin."

"Umm, you and Snape?"

"Not you too, Harry! I'm sick of this already and really, is this the best time to talk about my love life?"

"I suppose not, it's just… well, shocking."

"I'm sure it is, and please don't take this the wrong way, but I really don't care."

He looked away and nodded. "I ran into Ginny. She said some... _things_."

"Yeah, that's my fault. I may have tried to freak her out on purpose," she admitted with a chuckle as she stood up. "You should grab a bite to eat. I assume you're heading back?"

Answering with a nod, he said, "You know, that's a good idea." He started for the door, but turned back and hugged the witch. "I love you, and will stand by you no matter what."

"I can't tell you how much that means to me, Harry." She kissed his cheek. "I'm going to check on Ronald."

Ron was fine, unconscious, but he'd live. Poppy easily reversed the hex and gave him a potion to help with the discomfort. Molly told Hermione to hold off on using her magic in case it was life or death, so she went to wait in the sitting room.

If wishing could bring Severus back safe and sound he would appeared at that moment, but it couldn't, so Hermione contented herself with thinking better times.

" _Damnit!" she cursed, throwing her quill across the table as she stood up._

" _What the hell's the matter?" Severus asked, looking at her like he was about to assign detention._

" _I can't get it! This equation is impossible and I'm sure it's the key! Or at least very important."_

 _He rolled his eyes and walked over to look at her parchment. "Arithmancy was never my strong suit. But of course, that's why you are here," he said after studying the numbers for a moment. He sat down in her normal chair. "Come."_

" _What?"_

" _Come here and sit down. And stop pouting while you're at it. It is unbecoming."_

 _Hermione sighed but followed his directions. "What now?" she asked after she sat._

" _Close your eyes and focus your magic like you do when you heal. You're frustrated beyond distraction."_

" _How will…"_

" _Just do it, Miss Granger. It will help," he said harshly, then his voice soften a bit. "Trust me."_

 _It was at that moment that she realised just how much she did trust him. Just a few short months ago she was convinced that he was evil incarnate (even after spending years defending him), but having spent nearly every day with the man for several months now, she felt like she had some insight into who he really was. Although he was surly and short tempered and had a biting wit, he cared. Whether about her specifically or humans in general, she wasn't quite sure. But he did have a heart hidden underneath all that sarcasm._

 _So she followed the familiar steps through the healing spell, stopping just short of reaching out to find the Source. She was about to turn back to the table and parchments when she heard Snape's voice._

" _Now look for it."_

" _For what?"_

" _The answer, Miss Granger."_

" _How…?"_

" _It's there. You've been looking at those numbers for over an hour. Just envision the equation and the answer will come."_

 _Though Arithmancy in it's basic form was a type of divination, she and Snape had been using it as a means to 'predict' where the Brotherhood would most likely have set up their base of operations. Fortune telling aspect aside, Hermione was good with numbers. Really good. Arithmancy had come quite naturally to her._

 _Just as Snape had suggested, she recalled the sequence of numbers. They floated in her mind, as if in front of her eyes. Focusing magical energy, she saw numbers start to fly past, hundreds of them. Suddenly the answer was clear._

 _She opened her eyes and launched herself at the Dark wizard, practically landing in his lap. "Thank you!" She kissed his cheek. "Thank you so much! I would have never thought of that!"_

" _Most likely you would have. Now please move."_

" _Oh, accept my appreciation, you big grump." She considered planting one on his lips, but kissed his other cheek instead, then moved off of him and immediately wrote down the numbers. "One step closer," she said with a smile._

" _Indeed," he replied, although he didn't look very pleased about the small victory. She wondered why._

" _I'm going to get us some dinner. Any requests?"_

" _If Molly made any biscuits…"_

" _Well of course! I wouldn't forget the biscuits!" she said with a wink._

 _Later that night, after dinner was finished and the pair was quietly writing on their respective parchments when Hermione looked up. "Professor?"_

" _Hmm?" he hummed, not taking his eyes off of his work._

" _I'd like to heal your skin."_

 _He turned his head. "Miss Granger…"_

" _No, just listen. I've healed the pain and helped strengthen you, but you don't have to keep dressing like an evil villain in an Emily Brontë novel."_

"Excuse me? _" he asked indignantly._

" _You've charmed your shirts and cravats. They're softer than they should be so as not to irritate your sensitive skin. Tell me I'm wrong. Tell me your skin doesn't hurt."_

 _He didn't answer, which told her everything she needed to know. Though she could see the question in his eyes, wondering how she'd figured out he'd charmed his cravats._

" _More importantly," she added "You wear cravats! Even in the Wizarding World, that's a bit… old fashioned, don't you think?"_

" _I happen to like the way I dress. Besides, I don't need advice from a teenager who wears denims and tee shirts every day of her life."_

 _She stood up and walked towards him. "Let me do this for you."_

" _Why, Miss Granger, are you constantly trying to help me?"_

" _Despite your awful personality and appalling manners, I actually quite like you, Professor."_

 _He seemed taken aback for a moment, but recovered quickly. "Brilliant as you are, you are a ridiculous little witch. Did you know that?" he said, but started untying his cravat nevertheless._

 _This time before she started she took his face in her hands. "This will hurt. It's different. Mending skin is…incredibly painful. Take it from me." She unconsciously moved her hand to her left arm._

" _I understand. I've withstood the Cruciatus…"_

" _So have I, but this is… different."_

" _We'll see if I can take a little pain, girl."_

 _She rolled her eyes and stepped between his legs. "I'm here, Professor. Just grab me and hold on if you need to."_

" _Just do it, Miss Granger," he hissed._

 _She rubbed her hands together and whispered the incantation. Ready for his reaction, she grabbed him by the back of his head and pulled him into her chest while simultaneously placing her hand on the scarred, jagged skin of his neck. Finding the Source immediately, she started knitting the skin back together. He instantly tried to pull away._

" _Shhh, it's okay. I've got you. It won't hurt for long," she softly spoke into his ear as he fought her. "When I'm finished it won't hurt at all." Stroking his hair with her free hand she continued to soothe him as she healed his flesh._

 _As she got to the two largest scars, the tough puckered spots where Nagini's fangs had pierced his throat, she felt his hands grab her thighs. He clung to her tightly as she focused her magic into the wounds, trying to erase them altogether._

" _We're almost done, sir. You're doing great. Gods, you're so brave. I've never told you, have I? That I thought that you were brave? You are. The bravest wizard I've ever known. I cried and cried when I thought that we'd lost you." That's when she realised that tears were pouring out of her eyes. "I'm sorry I'm hurting you. I just want you to be happy."_

 _She eased her hand off of his throat and looked at her progress. It was done, but he was still holding onto her as if he were in pain. Stroking the new skin with her fingertips she both felt and heard him gasp._

" _Sir?" She looked down as she pulled back to see his eyes glistening with unshed tears._

 _He didn't speak; he just nodded. She had no idea what that nod meant. Was it a thank you? An acknowledgement of her abilities? Or was he simply glad that it was finished? It could have meant anything or nothing at all, but for some reason Hermione's overly tired mind decided it was a good idea to answer it with a kiss._

 _She lowered her head and pressed her lips to his. His hands tightened on her thighs as he sucked in a breath. Allowing her tongue to sweep across his lower lip, Hermione pulled him closer. He growled and moved his hands to cup her buttocks. The sensation of him gripping her tightly left her weak in the knees, and she fell forward. He pulled her onto his lap and she found herself suddenly straddling her former teacher in her best friend's library._

 _Grinding down on his erection (Oh gods! He has an erection!) elicited a needy moan from the wizard, so she did it again... and again. She released his lips and trailed kissed down his newly healed throat, kissing and sucking as she went._

" _We… we have to stop… Miss Gra…" Severus tried to protest, but she hushed him with a kiss, sliding her tongue into his mouth. He kissed her right back sucking on her tongue as he pulled her down on his cloth covered cock. He pulled his mouth away. "This is wrong," he growled._

 _Digging her nails into his scalp, she brought his face back to hers. "I don't care," she whispered against his lips before kissing him once again. He still didn't resist her, pulling her closer, causing her breasts to press against his chest._

 _Suddenly, he jerked her back. "But I do. I_ have _to care."_

 _He tried to extract her from his lap, but she held on tight. "I want this."_

" _That is obvious, but I can't do this to you." He pushed her bodily off of his legs and she fell ungracefully onto the floor_

" _Fuck!" she shouted._

 _He stood up and retreated to the far corner of the room. "_ That _can never happen again," he said as he ran a hand through his hair._

" _I think you've bruised my arse. Not to mention my ego." She stood up and adjusted her shirt._

" _I'm sor… I should have stopped it before it… I shouldn't have kissed you."_

 _She'd never seen the man so frazzled. Come to think of it, she'd never seen him frazzled at all. "Don't worry about it, Professor. I kissed you, remember?"_

" _Nevertheless…"_

" _I don't think we'll be getting anything else accomplished this evening," she interrupted before he could protest anymore._

 _Snape didn't seem to have heard her. "I have never done anything like that with a student before, Miss Granger."_

 _She shook her head. "You still haven't, sir," she said before leaving the room._

* * *

 _Thanks so much for reading. Please review and tell me how I'm doing. More to come... ~Lil~_


	4. Chapter 4

_Okay, I'm updating a little early because this is my favorite chapter (yes, I'm a child). Big thanks, once again, to darnedchild for her betaing and support._

 _ **Warnings** : There be sex ahead! And unabashed Draco cuteness (that has nothing to do with the sex, I should add ; )_

 _I own nothing. Enjoy ~Lil~_

* * *

"This is Maggie, Seamus' mum," Luna explained as she led Hermione around the room. "She was hit with an Incendio, but Poppy's healed most of her burns." The blonde witch pointed across the room. "Dean and Neville both got caught in debris from a Reducto. They're fine, but I don't think Neville will be using his right pinky finger for a while. And Charlie Weasley got Crucio'd pretty badly until Professor Snape showed up and took out three Death Eaters at once. Or at least that's what I heard. Charlie's already been sent back and I think they're sending Dean and Neville back soon too."

Luna had returned from the fight with a fresh load of casualties and was walking Hermione around the room, wistfully describing all the injuries. Hermione tried to listen, she really did. She cared about each and every one of the people Luna was talking about, even if she'd never met Seamus' mother before, but her mind kept wandering to Severus. He was in so much more danger than everyone else.

"I wish you could have seen Maggie fighting. She was amazing. Has an even quicker wand than Charlie. They killed her husband last month, you know," the blonde continued to explain as they walked out into the hallway.

"Yes, I'd heard about that."

The younger witch touched Hermione's hand. "Your wizard will be fine."

"I know. I just…"

"No, Hermione, he will be. I can feel it." Luna gave Hermione an enigmatic smile then walked toward the kitchen.

"I'm not sure I can deal with her oddness tonight," Hermione muttered to herself, or at least she thought it was to herself.

"Who's oddness?" the voice of Draco Malfoy startled her.

"Sweet hell, Malfoy! I thought I was alone."

"So you were talking to yourself? I'm worried about you, Granger. Now, who were you talking about?"

"Luna. She's lovely, but sometimes she says the strangest things."

"Luna Lovegood's here?" he asked, looking down the hall and running his hands through his freshly washed hair. He'd clearly had a shower and was wearing new clothes. Well, different clothes. She thought she recognised the shirt as one of Ron's. "Granger," he said, turning to face her once again. "Honestly, how do I look?"

"Oh my gods, you fancy Luna!"

"Shut up!" he snapped. "Where is she?" He looked into the infirmary.

Hermione shook her head. Only Draco Malfoy would be worried about a pretty witch the moment he was rescued from Death Eaters. "Nimue help us. You will have the weirdest children." She reached up and flicked at his blond locks. "And their hair will be magnificently white."

"You're one to talk. Between your frizz and Severus' grease... the poor dears."

"Yeah well, perhaps we'll cancel each other out," she said with a laugh, then she frowned when the idea struck her. She had never really considered children. What would they be like? Brilliant, certainly, and snarky most likely. She sighed. Why was she doing this to herself? Not only did she not know if Severus would make it back from the mission, she really had no idea how he felt about her. If he did come back would he want to continue their relationship?

Draco must have noticed. "Hey, he's not gone yet. If anyone can survive all of this, it's him." After a pause, he added, "Oh right, I was sent to find you. Mother wants to talk to you. She's in a room upstairs. Second floor, third door on the right."

"What does you mum want with me?"

"Don't know. To thank you, maybe."

She started to walk away, then turned and said, "Luna's in the kitchen, Draco. Ask her to tell you about Nargles."

Hermione knocked on Mrs. Malfoy's door and entered after the older witch answered. "You wanted to see me?" she said as she walked in.

"Yes Miss Granger. Please have a seat." The witch hardly looked like she was recovering from months of imprisonment and repeated curses. She looked beautiful. She too was freshly washed and wearing clean clothes. They appeared to have been Transfigured into modest, though expensive looking sleepwear.

Taking a seat in the chair next to the bed, Hermione fixed Draco's mother with a tight smile.

"I understand that I owe you a debt," the pure-blood witch said without a hint of emotion.

"Why would you owe me? I did nothing more than Poppy or any Healer would have done."

The older woman smiled, though it wasn't warm. "That's not exactly the truth, now is it Miss Granger? Draco told me what happened. What you did cost you something. That is how a Life Debt is incurred. I know that you're… Muggle-born, but surely you've at least read about them."

She had, though they seemed vague and almost undefinable. "Do I have any say in this? Suppose I don't want you to owe me anything?"

"It doesn't work that way, my dear." Smoothing down her frayed blanket, the Malfoy matriarch continued, "But I do understand, considering the circumstances, that the debt could make you feel… uncomfortable, so I'll make you an offer."

For some reason, the words left Hermione with a sense of dread. "And what would that be?"

"Some advice," she answered coldly. "Regarding Severus and your future."

 _Of course,_ Hermione thought. _Will this never end?_ Now she was going to be warned off by his pure-blood friend.

"Oh, don't look so despondent, Miss Granger. Furrowing your brow will cause premature ageing," Mrs. Malfoy scolded almost playfully. She turned her face to look across the room, then she began, "Severus was a year behind me. I noticed him, his brilliance, his potential. I knew there was power there." She shook her head. "He was a skinny, frail looking thing the whole time I knew him in school. Constantly tormented by Potter and his little following and not wholly accepted by his own House. I wouldn't say that we were friends, he _was_ a half-blood of course, but we did speak. He helped me with my Potions work from time to time. I became… _fond_ of him. I knew Lucius was grooming him for the Cause but I didn't give it much thought. I didn't see him again until a gathering that I attended with Lucius two years after I graduated. He had changed… _physically_ , but there was something else. Something hard to define."

The woman was still staring off into the room, seemingly lost in a memory for a moment, a memory that made Hermione very uncomfortable. She wasn't sure she like the direction this conversation was heading.

Turning back to Hermione, Mrs. Malfoy smiled. "Lucius and I had married the year before. I was happy. I had married into an ancient pure-blood family, merged the Blacks and Malfoys in what would certainly prove to be a magnificent union. I had never doubted my choice until the moment I looked at Severus from across that room." Her eyes glassed over and for a moment Hermione thought the older witch was going to cry, but she just took a deep breath and continued, "If you have won his heart, Miss Granger, don't lose it. Don't take him for granted. He is fiercely loyal and will not betray you."

 _What a strange thing to say?_ "And... how do you know that?" she asked, almost immediately regretting the question.

The pure-blood stared at Hermione for what seemed like a very long time, she was clearly trying to make a decision about something. "Because he refused to betray his best friend when I offered myself to him," she finally answered without a hint of remorse. "He is rare and precious. Do not forget that."

Hermione sat in stunned silence, processing what she'd just heard.

"I have repaid you with something at great cost to myself, Miss Granger. Do with it what you will."

Taking that as a dismissal, Hermione stood. "Thank you, Mrs. Malfoy. I... "

"Please. Let's leave it at that." She suddenly looked older… tired.

Hermione nodded and left, fearing that she had just been overpaid for her healing.

* * *

It wasn't much longer before more injured started pouring in. Hermione had to heal both Arthur and Harry from a couple of hexes that no one even recognised before they were able to go back to the fight.

She had just helped Poppy set and heal an Auror's broken leg and was feeling the drain on her magic. When they had finished she turned to the Matron and asked, "Why are the Aurors coming here instead of going to St Mungo's?."

"Severus sent her here because it was a compound fracture. He knew you'd be best able to heal it. He'll only send us the worst ones, dear. And the ones he needs back immediately."

"Is Severus… Is he in charge of the battle?"

"Not officially, no. However..." The older witch raised an eyebrow.

"So if it all goes wrong it'll be his fault!" _Those bastards! He'll be their scapegoat!_ Hermione reached into her pocket and dug out some chocolate. "How much longer will this go on?"

"Go have a rest. You can't have much energy left after all that work."

Hermione nodded. "I'm going to go to my room for a bit. Send someone for me if anything happens or if Severus…"

"Of course, dear," the Matron patted her shoulder and sent her on her way.

Collapsing onto her bed, she shut her eyes. Mrs. Malfoy's 'advice' kept running through her mind. She shook her head. Thinking about Severus' past wouldn't help her relax. Well, unless it was his more recent past…

 _Hermione was surprised to find Snape in the library the next night after she'd healed his skin. She was certain that he would avoid her once again, perhaps even more fervently than the first time. But when she walked in, a couple hours after lunch, she found him hunched over a new set of parchments, a pile of books stacked to his right._

" _Professor…" she started._

" _No, Miss Granger," he answered without looking up._

" _No what?"_

" _Whatever you want to talk about will only make things worse. I've left you a new set of figures." He motioned to her usual seat._

" _I really do think…"_

 _Once again he interrupted. "Yes, you do that quite a lot. But in this instance, I believe it would be best if we not_ think _about it at all."_

 _From that point on, every time she tried to engage him in conversation she was met with silence. Eventually she gave up. They only worked until about seven pm that evening as they weren't accomplishing much other than ignoring each other after the first couple of hours._

 _Once she got to her room, she started pacing. Harry and Ron showed up and tried to drag her to the sitting room for a game of Wizard's Chess, but she begged off, telling them that she had a headache. It wasn't a lie; Snape was driving her mad! It was all very noble of him to refuse her advances, but bloody hell, she was an adult! Finally after forty minutes of pacing and thinking, she made a decision._

 _She had just slipped a note under Snape's door when it opened._

" _What are you doing, Miss Granger?" he questioned as he picked up the note and glanced at it._

" _Requesting a meeting. Somewhere other than that damn library."_

" _No."_

" _The rumors are true, you know. You are a git!"_

" _This is not news to me," he drolled._

" _Fine," she said and started to leave, then turned back to him. "I just wanted to talk."_

" _While seated upon my lap?"_

" _That part was your doing."_

 _He shook his head. "This is an awful idea."_

" _I've had worse ideas, trust me."_

" _Like what?"_

" _Stealing a dragon from a bank."_

 _Looking away, he smirked. "I'll live to regret this," he mumbled under his breath._

" _That's what the dragon thought. But after we freed him met a nice girl dragon. They're living in a lovely cave in Northern England."_

" _You amuse yourself, don't you?" he asked with a sideways smile._

" _Almost constantly."_

" _Your room, half past eleven," he said, then he slammed the door in her face._

 _She jumped and raised her arms in a silent cheer._

" _Don't gloat, Miss Granger!" came from inside the room._

" _Arse!" she yelled back._

 _At exactly 11.30 Snape opened her door and slipped into the room. "You have ten minutes," he said, seating himself in the only chair in the room which sat next to her vanity._

 _Hermione, who was sitting on her bed, suddenly felt like she needed to make small talk, perhaps see if she could stretch those ten minutes out a bit. "So, how's your neck?"_

" _Fine," he answered._

" _No pain?"_

" _No."_

 _Oh, he was not going to make this easy. She might have had sex, but she'd never actually seduced someone before. Getting up from the bed, she walked over to the door only to find it locked and warded. Of course he'd already taken care of that. Even if they did nothing more than talk about the weather, he'd not want to be caught in her room so late in the evening, or at all for that matter._

" _Eight minutes, Miss Granger."_

" _Damnit, Snape!"_

 _One side of his mouth quirked up. "Did you expect this to be easy? I already told you it wasn't happening."_

" _And why not? You're clearly attracted to me!"_

" _You were my student less than two years ago."_

 _She rolled her eyes._

" _You are too young and naive," he stated plainly, though something about how he said it sounded like he didn't quite believe his own words._

" _I may be young, but I assure you I know what I want."_

" _You're vulnerable right now. If I took advantage of that I would be exactly what everyone thinks I am. Which, by the way, I am not!"_

Not everyone…I know the truth. " _Vulnerable? What are you talking about?"_

" _You've been through a war, been attacked, tortured and nearly raped. You've lost your parents and buried your friends. Lashing out and attempting to seduce your hated former teacher may seem like a satisfying means of rebellion, but I assure you, Miss Granger, you would regret it and so would I."_

 _She laughed. "Gods! You think this is some kind of teenage angst thing?"_

" _Of course it is! Do you think you're the first young woman to throw herself at me?"_

 _Young woman was a definite improvement from 'girl'. "No, I don't. Do you think you're my only option?"_

 _He just stared._

Ha! Gotcha! " _I could have any man in this house! The single ones at the very least. Everyone here is bored and anxious."_

 _He remained silent. That's how she knew she was getting to him._

" _I've slept with Ron already." She shrugged. "George? Charlie? Dean and Seamus? Trust me when I say all I'd have to do is bat my eyes. And I've seen the way Kingsley looks at me when he thinks no one's watching. He may not even realise it, but I know that look." She deliberately left out Neville's name. Everyone knew she and Ron had briefly dated, and probably assumed that he'd had sex. Neville may not want it advertised that they'd shared a drunken evening together._

 _Snape tightened his hold on the arm of the chair. He was losing control, so she went in for the kill. It was cheating, and she knew it, but she was beyond caring._

" _And Harry. Sweet, lovable Harry Potter. He's like a brother to me, but that doesn't mean he hasn't noticed that I'm a woman. Harry would fuck me in a heartbeat."_

 _Snape was on his feet before she even knew what was happening. He had her backed up against the wall, her hands held high above her head. "_ That _was a mistake, witch! Do not try to out manipulate a Slytherin!"_

" _Oh I don't know. It got a reaction, didn't it?"_

" _I don't think you will like my response," he hissed as he lowered his head to her neck. When he was hovering just over the skin, she heard him inhale deeply. "I should tie you to the wall, tease you and leave you. That might teach you a lesson about playing with snakes."_

" _I've been_ asking _for a lesson, Professor, and you keep refusing me," she said in a breathy whisper._

 _He pulled back just a bit and looked her in the eyes. "This is utter madness."_

 _Hermione smiled. "I know. Isn't it wonderful?"_

 _Bending until his lips nearly covered hers he said, "Why are you tormenting me, little witch?"_

" _Because there's not much joy in this life, Severus," she said. Looking from his eyes to his lips she added, "And I think we should take what's freely offered."_

" _Are you offering me free rein of your body, Miss Granger?"_

" _Yes, but only if you stop treating me like a fucking child," she spit as she tried to break out of his hold. It was useless._

 _He chuckled darkly. "Oh, you are no child." Transferring her hands so that he could hold them both with one of his, he traced her cheek with one finger, studying her for several moments before speaking once again. "You will have to come to me. This cannot be my doing, understand?"_

 _She didn't. He had her pinned to the wall, his hard cock pressed against her stomach, her wrists held tightly by his large hand, but she nodded nevertheless._

" _Good." Releasing her, he stepped back. "I'll be over there." He motioned to the bed._

 _Hermione stood, confused for only a moment before it dawned on her. She was the one in control. He still had doubts about their situation and it was up to her to alleviate them._

" _Will you take off your boots and coat for me?" she asked._

 _He stood and removed his frock coat, tossing it on the vanity chair. Sitting back down he went to work on his dragon hide boots._

" _Socks too," she said and he nodded then compiled._

 _She was only wearing jeans, a tee shirt, knickers and a bra. It wouldn't take her nearly as long to undress as the man on the bed with all his layers. Even though she'd healed his scarred neck, he still insisted on the damn cravat. She'd be removing that particular garment herself._

" _Now the waistcoat," she ordered as she unbuttoned her jeans._

 _He didn't stand, just sat up straighter and quickly unbuttoned it. With the removal of each item, Hermione became more and more excited, aroused. He tossed the piece of cloth on top of his coat and waited. Pushing down her jeans, she kicked them to the floor. She never took her eyes off of him, watching carefully as he took her in, She couldn't help but smile at the look in his eyes. He was on fire. This man who almost never showed emotion was so obviously affected by the sight of her in her plain black tee shirt and green knickers._

" _Interesting choice," he commented, looking at her pants. "Does the bra match?"_

 _She pulled her shirt over her head to show him._

" _Christ," he whispered. His hands stroked his thighs, almost absently._

 _Hermione walked over as he spread his legs for her and she knelt on the floor at his feet. She started untying his cravat. "I hate this thing."_

" _I think you secretly love it."_

 _She looked away from the cloth up to his face once she'd unknotted it and said, "You do know it's no longer the eighteenth century, correct?"_

" _I must get a new calendar."_

 _Moving on to the buttons of his white shirt, she asked, "Are you ever going to touch me?"_

" _I am simply awaiting your permission, little witch."_

 _The words caused her flesh to ignite. "Please, Severus," she begged._

 _Grabbing her hands and halting her progress, he growled, "You must say it."_

 _It sounded like he was he was just barely holding on._ Good, I'm not the only one, _she thought. Her breathing had become laboured, she had to concentrate very hard to make herself speak. Finally she managed, "Touch me, kiss me. Please, Severus, fuck me."_

 _Suddenly, she found herself flat on her back on the bed, the wizard hovering over her, a sinister smile on his lips. "You had but to ask," he said before his mouth claimed hers in a bruising kiss. He buried his hands in her hair, turning her head where he wanted it as his tongue slipped between her lips. Her hips cradled his as he ground his erection against her core. She very nearly came from the contact alone, even through the layers of fabric._

 _He pulled away from her. "I want to break you and protect you at the same time. You confuse the hell out of me, Hermione." Nipping at her jaw, he worked his way to her neck, kissing and biting at her flesh._

" _I need you inside me!"_

" _Oh, not yet, my dear. You gave me free rein, remember?" His hands cupped both of her breasts as once, pushing them together. He licked down the centre of her chest then buried his face between her lace covered mounds. Tilting his head slightly, he bit the top of her right breast causing her to arch off of the bed. He took advantage, slipping his hands around her back and unhooking her bra then tossing it to the floor._

 _No longer satisfied with her own idleness, Hermione started yanking Severus' shirt tails out of his trousers, looking for skin. He knelt up and jerked the half unbuttoned shirt over his head._

" _Yesssss…" she said under her breath as she took in his chest. His body had been tormenting her for days, ever since she'd healed him the second time. She couldn't figure out if it was really that impressive, or if she was simply surprised. He wasn't built any better than, say Ron, and was definitely thinner. But she wasn't prepared for him to have such an appealing physique. He was twice her age, for goodness sake! Though that didn't mean quite the same as it did in the Muggle world. As she looked up his body, she realised that there was something to be said for shock and awe. "Get back here, I want to touch you."_

 _He raised an eyebrow as he moved to lay next to her. "I was just thinking the same thing." Trailing one hand over her hip, he leant forward and captured a nipple in his mouth causing her to moan loudly._

 _Hermione held his head to her breast, stroking her other hand down his strong back._

 _His hand slowly traveled down her stomach until he reached her satin covered mound. "I'd like to see just how wet I can make these knickers." He started to rub, gently at first, then adding more pressure._

 _She couldn't stop touching him, but he didn't seem to mind. Now that she had his nearly naked body within reach, she let herself go, raking her nails up and down his back, gripping the base of his neck, clutching at his strong forearm as he continued to play with her._

 _His mouth returned to her breast, licking, teasing, then gently biting at the pink flesh. He slowly worked her until she was bucking up into his hand, wishing for more._

" _Please," she urged._

" _What do you want, Hermione?" he asked, sitting up slightly, his fingers traced the inside of the waistband of her pants._

" _To come. Please."_

 _He moved to her other breast determined, it seemed, to drive her mad with want. After thoroughly devouring her nipple, he nipped and licked at the tender skin on the underside of her breast. Hermione hissed and keened, not knowing how sensitive the spot actually was._

" _Surprising, isn't it?" He went right back for more, then switched sides, treating her other breast the same. "What about this?" he asked before kissing her wrist, then licking a line up her arm. She gasped out loud when he sucked on the skin at the bend of her arm. He kept doing it, sucking and biting at her flesh until she was certain that she was going to come. Then he stopped and moved to her ribs, kissing his way downward._

 _His mouth was a wonder. That mouth that could cut her open with a single word suddenly seemed to be the source of all her pleasure. His tongue played with her navel before he nipped at her fleshy belly. And finally, finally! he was hovering over her core._

" _By the gods! You smell delicious," he said as he hooked his thumbs in her knickers and drew them down her legs. "Ahh these, Miss Granger, are absolutely ruined." He tossed the soiled garment to the floor._

" _Your fault, sir." She giggled._

" _Hmmm," he hummed as he spread her with his fingers, simply staring for a long moment before speaking. "Every single one is different. Yours, for instance, is so wet it glistens like dew on grass first thing in the morning."_

 _She couldn't decide if she was more surprised at his poetic words or the fact that they were directed at her pussy._

" _But instead of variants of greens and yellows, you're a flushed pink…" He lightly touched her clitoris then drew his finger down through her labia. "...shading into a deeper red," he finished, dipping his finger into her entrance._

 _Finally pulling his eyes away, Severus looked up as his finger explored her. His intense gaze burned her. She felt the need to look away, but simply couldn't. She knew she was ridiculously wet, most likely dripping onto the bed by this point, but she couldn't care._

 _He increased the pace of his exploration, then she felt him pressing against something new. A spot neither she nor any of her other lovers had ever touched._

" _Severus?" she said, not quite sure what she was asking. She'd had orgasms before, lots of them, and she knew what she was feeling. She just didn't know it was possible with so little stimulation. He'd barely touched her clit so far and she'd never been able to come without a lot of clitoral stimulation before._

" _Relax, Hermione. It is coming." His smile was cocky and smug as he continued to rub against what she had realised was her G-spot. "Are you ready?" he asked._

" _Gods!"_

" _Fuck! You're going to feel glorious around my cock!" he whispered just before moving his lips to her cunt, sucking her clit into his mouth._

" _Unnnngggghhhh!"_

" _That's it!" he whispered as he thrust his finger into her, causing her orgasm to continue on much longer than she expected._

 _Hermione, felt him remove his hand as her senses started returning. She didn't realise that she'd closed her eyes until she opened them to see Severus kneeling between her legs, naked (when had he…?) stroking his_ very _impressive erection._

" _We can still stop," he said as he lowered himself, resting on his forearms, his cock barely touching her wet curls._

" _I want this, Severus." She stroked his face. "I don't want to stop."_

 _Leaning forward, he kissed her almost sweetly as he took hold of his erection and positioned it. Then he was thrusting, slowly, into her. Hermione held onto his shoulders and stared into his eyes. He never looked away as he set his pace, driving his cock into her over and over._

This is just sex, _she told herself,_ just release. We both need it _. But the look in his eyes said something else entirely. She had no idea what it was, but it was something._

 _She kept up with his rhythm, pushing up her hips with each thrust. One of his hands held onto her hip and the other was buried in her hair. He lowered his head, capturing a nipple. Her back arched as she cried out and that feeling returned. Suddenly, he yanked her body down, forcing himself even deeper inside her and causing his pelvis to grind against her clit._

" _Come for me again, little witch." He licked a line of sweat off of her clavicle. "I want to feel your tight little cunt clamp down on my cock." With a swivel of his hips, he slammed into her at a different angle and she suddenly close once again._

 _For a man so tightly controlled and stoic in day to day life, he certainly had no problem with letting go during sex. His filthy words sent her over the edge. She felt her walls tighten around him as her orgasm tore through her._

" _Fucking hell!" he grunted into her shoulder as his hips lost all finesse and he slammed into her with so much force that she had to grab onto the headboard for support._

 _After several more hard, graceless thrusts, she felt him lose himself within her. The feeling cause a new rush of ecstasy to wash over her, extending her her orgasm or hurtling her into another one, she really couldn't tell._

 _He slumped against her, slightly off to one side, allowing her to breath normally but staying almost fully in contact with her body. "I haven't felt this relaxed in…" he started, then he propped himself up on one arm. "Are you okay? Any regrets?"_

" _Are you kidding me? That was amazing." She smiled, running her hand through his sweat damp hair._

* * *

 _Ummm... wow, Severus! If you were still trying to put her off, I think you've failed, completely! Anyhoo, please let me know what you think about their first time. Thanks so much for reading. ~Lil~_


	5. Chapter 5

_I shouldn't have mentioned how much I enjoyed writing the last chapter... it never fails, the things I love the most always get the least response. I'll never understand that. Perhaps I have odd taste. Anyhoo, thanks to you all for the reviews, comments, faves, follows and kudos. I really appreciate it. It's looking like there will be two more chapters after this one. Big thanks to darnedchild for her betaing and wonderfulness._

 _ **Warnings:** More smutty goodness, nothing else._

 _I own nothing. Enjoy ~Lil~_

* * *

"...makes me wonder," Luna finished, looking at Hermione expectantly.

"I'm sorry, _what_?" Hermione asked, she'd been completely lost in thought. Now she wished she'd been paying attention so at least she knew what the blonde was talking about.

"I was just commenting that the witches in the Brotherhood must feel slighted at the name _the Brotherhood_. It's quite sexist of them really."

"They're Death Eaters, Luna, I don't think equal rights are a top priority."

"Still, after the Witches Rebellion of 1847, you'd think they would be a bit more sensitive of witch rights. I recently read that it marked the lowest drop in magical births in British history. We do have all the power, so to speak." She took a sip of tea. "If Muggle woman had thought to withhold sex, I'd imagine that their suffrage movement would have been much more successful, not to mention efficient."

"Yeees, I'm sure it would have," Hermione replied, eyeing the young woman wearily. They were in the library where they had been for nearly an hour, waiting on news of the mission.

"Do you withhold sex from the professor when he's been particularly nasty or is that some kind of turn on for you?"

"Ahhh…"

"That's okay. You don't have to tell me about your sex life. But just so you know, I _do_ get the attraction."

"Um, thanks?"

"He certainly has the whole dark, mysterious, brooding thing down pat, doesn't he?"

"Well…"

"And he's so intelligent. I'd imagine that you're much more interested in a wizard's mind than anything physical." She looked thoughtful for a moment. "Although he does have large hands… and feet." Turning to Hermione, she continued, "I knew something was different about you, but I couldn't quite figure it out." She waved her hand around Hermione's head. "Your aura changed a few weeks back. I assume that was when you realised you were in love with him?"

"I'm not sure…"

"Well, I should go check and see if there's anything I can help out with. Nice chatting with you, Hermione."

Luna sort of floated from the room, leaving Hermione to wonder what had just happened. Not an abnormal feeling after a conversation with the dreamy Ravenclaw.

Hermione smiled sadly as she thought about what Luna had said. Yes, Severus' mind was certainly attractive, but she hadn't really started thinking about him as much more than a fellow Order member (not to mention former professor and bane of her existence) until she'd healed him that second time. Luna would probably find that interesting, to say the least.

Then she thought about what the other witch had said about her... aura. Her first time with Severus had changed the way she looked at sex. It had always been ...good, but with him it was absolute perfection, like he had some sort of preternatural power where her body was concerned. And that was just the sex! Once she realised that she'd fallen completely and irreversibly in love with him, things changed once again...

" _Severus," Hermione said, her head resting on his chest. They'd just finished making love, or having sex, or shagging. Whatever it was, it had been fantastic._

" _Yes?" He stroked his hand down her back, then back up again._

" _Tell me something about yourself. Something I don't know." She turned to look up at him._

 _He rolled his eyes. "Can I not have five minutes to bask in the afterglow without your infernal questions, witch?" His tone was harsh, though the post-coital gleam in his eyes betrayed him. Besides, she'd learned that his wit, though sharp and cutting, could also be playful in a Snapeian sort of way._

 _Sitting up and propping herself on her elbow, she said, "You know everything about me, Severus. I just want to know more about you. It's not fair."_

 _He chuckled darkly. "Life's not fair, Miss Granger."_

" _But I know nothing about your childhood or…" She stopped short almost saying 'adolescence', because she did know a bit about his teenage years, Harry had told her what he knew about his mother and the Marauders. Her friend had tried to sugar-coat it, but to her it sounded awful._

" _My life was not all rainbows and roses, Hermione. It's best left alone."_

" _But... "_

" _No buts. My childhood is_ not _something I wish to talk about. I distinctly remember you telling me that this was about finding joy or happiness or some such sentimental nonsense. Talking about my past is not pleasant. The subject is closed. Besides..." he said, dropping his voice an octave lower than his normal deep rumble. "... I can think of much more pleasurable things I like to do while we're alone." He trailed his hand over her hip to squeeze her bum playfully._

 _Later she would see it for what it was, but at the time Hermione only saw Severus' words as a slight. In that moment she felt used and hurt. It reminded her that he only cared for what she could offer him, and that was her body._

 _Rolling out of bed, she got up and grabbed her dressing gown._

" _Where are you going?" he asked as he sat up._

" _I have to pee."_

" _You are being a child."_

" _Because I urinate? That makes sense."_

" _Because you're throwing a fit!" he snapped, sounding all too much like her teacher, not her lover._

 _She started for the door, but paused before opening it. "We had our fun tonight, Professor. Make sure you're not here when I get back."_

 _She didn't see him at breakfast the next day, but that was nothing new, he often skipped meals. He didn't show up for lunch either. After eating she wandered out into the back garden feeling like a complete twat. He had made her no promises, no declarations of love._ What did I expect? _This had been all her idea, this affair. He had tried to dissuade her, but had she pushed and pushed. Now she was getting attached and he would end it because of her childish neediness._

 _Hermione may have been an emotional young woman, but she had a rational mind and spending her nights wrapped around Severus Snape offered her release and escape from the horrors of reality like nothing else could. She couldn't lose that now._

 _Determined to fix her mistake, she turned to go into the house, her mind set on finding the wizard and ran directly into his chest._

 _His hands came up catching her by the upper arms. "Miss Granger."_

" _Sever- Professor…" She stood there breathless for a moment. "I was just on my way to find you."_

 _As he let her go, she watched him cast a wandless Muffliato. His proficiency with wandless magic never ceased to amaze and excite her._

" _I will talk and, and for once, you will listen. My childhood was miserable. My parents seemed to hate me from birth. Especially my father. I have no intention of reliving it for you. The years I spent at Hogwarts were bittersweet. Frankly more bitter than sweet. I'm sure Potter has regaled you with some of the finer points, but I'm not inclined to discuss them either. Just because I don't want to talk about my past that doesn't mean that I don't value you. I will not constantly reassure you that you have a brilliant mind and that you are more to me than just a warm body." He paused and glanced back at the house._

 _Hermione was shocked at his candor, as well at the fact that he had been the one to address the issue at all. Even the small amount of information he had shared was more than she thought she'd ever get, especially after their fight. But here he was, being the bigger person and letting her in, just a little bit. She had never enjoyed Ron's cloying sappiness. The way he wanted to talk about their 'feelings' for each other the entire month they'd been together drove her spare. More than likely he was just distracting himself from his brother's death. Though she did understand it, it still irritated her to no end. Severus' reserved affection suited her much better._

Affection _? she wondered._ Yes, he is affectionate in his own way _. The little looks and smirks. They way he seemed to want to constantly touch her when they were alone and not working on ferreting out the Brotherhood. His dry sense of humor, that was no longer directed at her unless he was being playful. Not to mention..._

Oh, bugger, _she thought_. I'm in love with him.

" _This arrangement will only continue so long as we both benefit from it. If you are unhappy, you must tell me, understand?" he asked._

 _Trying to hide her sudden realisation, Hermione simply nodded._

" _Then I ask you: are you still...happy?"_

 _She couldn't help but smile._

 _Severus' face betrayed nothing, but he said, "There it is."_

" _What?"_

" _That smile," he said reverently. In a heartbeat the look in his eyes changed from pensive to smoldering. "Now, come to the library so that I may ravish you." He turned to leave._

Yep, definitely love _. Hermione giggled. She grabbed his robes to stop him. "I can't, I'm going to Diagon Alley."_

"What _?" he said with barely disguised hostility._

" _Don't worry. Fleur, Molly and Luna are going too. As well as Bill, Arthur and Kingsley."_

 _Severus bristled. "What could you possibly need so badly that it couldn't wait?"_

" _Wait until when? It could be months until we find the Brotherhood. And I need… things."_

 _He narrowed his eyes. "Just be careful."_

" _Of course."_

" _And…" he started, looking uncomfortable. "...never mind."_

" _What?"_

 _He started to walk away, tossing back, "I'll see you this evening, Miss Granger," over his shoulder._

 _When she returned, five hours later Severus was in the library going over reports._

" _Hullo," she said as she entered._

" _Evening," he returned._

" _Are those new?" She sat down next to him._

" _Charles brought them just after you left. Nothing exceptional, I'm afraid."_

" _Anything for me?'_

" _Here," he handed her a parchment._

 _She started looking it over, making her own notes and calculations immediately._

" _So," Severus said, still without looking up. "Did you get everything you needed?"_

" _I did."_

" _I assume you didn't have any trouble."_

" _None."_

" _And did Shacklebolt get an eyeful?" he asked._

 _Hermione sat down her quill and turned to face him. "You really are a ridiculous man, did you know that?"_

 _He refused to answer, or look up from his work._

" _Actually, he didn't have time to admire my womanly features." Severus finally tore his eyes from the parchments. "He was too busy shamelessly flirting with_ _Andromeda," she said with a knowing smirk._

" _Really?" Suddenly he had an odd look on his face._

" _Indeed. It seems that our dear Head Auror fancies Mrs. Tonks."_

" _Does he fancy her or is he trying to get into her knickers?"_

" _Is there a difference?"_

" _Of course there is, Hermione, don't be naive."_

 _After her recent revelation, she couldn't help but feel a bit insecure about his comment. Again, it wasn't his fault, but she suddenly needed to get out of there. "Right," she said as she started for the door. "Like you said there's nothing remarkable in those reports…"_

" _Bloody hell," Severus muttered. "Not again." He stood and grabbed her waist just before she opened the door. "Hermione, I wasn't… that was not an assessment of our situation." He turned her and pressed her up against the bookcase._

" _I… I didn't say…"_

" _Damnit witch!" he growled before roughly capturing her lips with his. His tongue forced its way into her mouth causing her to moan. He lapped at her tongue, coxing it to play with his whilst his hands found their way under her button up shirt, deftly unhooking her bra before cupping her breasts and pinching her nipples. Kissing his way down her neck,_ _he softly spoke against her skin as he unbuttoned her shirt. "I don't know what we're doing, Hermione. I only know that I don't want to stop." Pulling back_ _, he looked her in the eyes and asked, "Is... that enough?"_

Is it? _she asked herself. It was difficult to concentrate with his warm body pressed against hers, his hard cock making itself known. Everything was so confusing and sad and hopeless. Voldemort was gone, but they were all still fighting. Sometimes, it felt like it was never going to end. It wasn't safe for her parents to return, wasn't safe to get a bloody apartment and start university! Nothing was certain...nothing except that when she was with Severus she felt secure and... whole._

" _Yes," she whispered. "It is." Her hands moved, as if of their own accord, to the placket of his trousers and quickly released his cock as he pulled her knickers low enough for her to kick them away._

 _Severus tugged away her shirt and bra. Pausing for a moment, he gave her an appraising look_ _. "I haven't seen you in a skirt since you were in school, Miss Granger. I'm feeling very conflicted right now." He licked and bit on the soft flesh of her neck._

" _Ahh, my pervy professor. I'm sure I still have my uniform around here somewhere if…"_

" _Don't. You. Dare," he growled as he lifted her up and she hooked her legs around his narrow hips. "As if I need a reminder that you sat in my classroom not two years ago." He lined himself up and let her sink down on his erection. "Gods… every time...so good! Every fucking time!"_

 _Hermione held tightly onto his shoulders as he pounded up into her, her back scraping against the shelves and ancient books. "The door… Severus… I didn't ward the room," she panted._

" _I did. As soon as you walked in," he whispered in her ear. Giving her a salacious smirk he added, "You are always ready for me, aren't you, little witch?"_

" _Oh yes! Fuck, Severus! Harder! Please! Fuck me harder!"_

 _And he did. Gripping her arse tight enough to bruise, Severus thrust harder and harder as he feasted on her throat and exposed chest._

" _Come for me, Hermione. Gods, I need to feel it!" he demanded and she did._

" _Severus!" she shouted his name as she tightened around him, coming hard._

 _He followed right behind her, chanting her name like a prayer against her sweat damp neck before slowly, gently settling her on back onto the floor._

 _She held onto his arms for support for several seconds, waiting for her limbs to co-operate with her once again. "That was… I've never done that before."_

" _What?" he asked as he adjusted his clothing._

" _Ah, standing," she answered, shocked that she could feel embarrassed after everything they had done._

 _He winked… actually winked! and said, "Oh, there's so much more to show you, little witch." With a kiss to her forehead, he returned to the reports on the desk._

Suddenly the door flew opened and Draco Malfoy rushed in, wrenching her out of the wonderful memory. "Hermione, they're here!" he shouted.

"Who?!" she asked, practically throwing her tea cup onto the coffee table.

The wizard looked even more pale than usual as he answered. "There's so many..."

When she got downstairs, she saw what him meant. There were people everywhere. It was nearly chaos.

"What happened?" she shouted over the cacophony of shouts and cries.

Harry pushed through the crowd. "It all came to a head, 'Mione. We got most of them, I think." He had an ugly gash over his right eye.

 _Another scar_ , she thought. "Who's the worst?"

"Molly!" he shouted. "Hermione's here!"

Soon the older witch was grabbing her wrist, dragging her into the dining room. "Arthur! Please help him!"

She looked down and saw a very pale and hardly breathing Arthur Weasley. Without hesitation, Hermione prepared her hands, doing her best to block out all the noise and confusion that surrounded her. Touching his shoulder, she sought the Source and found him suffering from the effects of the Cruciatus , but there was something else. _His heart!_ she realised. _Can wizards have heart attacks?_ She wasn't sure, but she did know one thing… he was very nearly gone. Pouring everything she could into him, she pulled him from the brink. Hearing him taking a deep, gasping breath, she let go.

"Thank the gods!" Molly sobbed.

Hermione staggered back and was caught by Draco. "Are you okay?" he asked.

"Yeah. I need…"

"Here." He handed her a large piece of chocolate.

"Thanks," she said as she grabbed the candy. After a few minutes of chewing, she asked, "Who else?"

"Are you sure?" Draco asked.

"Yes."

Forty-five minutes later, Hermione had healed two more Cruciatus curses and a badly broken back. There were others, of course, she only handled the very worst. And Dean, poor sweet Dean didn't make it. He was dead by the time they brought him to headquarters. There was nothing she could do.

She was just about to take a break when she heard someone call her name. Charlie Weasley had been hit with a Sectumsempra.

Just before she laid her palms on the wizard's chest, Hermione saw it: Severus' magical signature in Charlie's slashed skin. He'd clearly started the healing process before sending the younger man back to the house. It was going to make healing him immensely easier.

 _He's alive_ , she thought as she started rubbing her palms together.

The means by which the Order members were returning was brilliant and completely Severus' idea. Everyone had their own portkeys that would bring them directly into Number 12's entry hall. The house was still warded against apparition and Severus had assumed that the Brotherhood's headquarters would be as well. Each object had its own activation spell, so no one could accidentally activate someone else's. They were keyed to the owner. Of course if someone was too injured to move or speak their word someone else would have to bring them back. That had been Luna's primary purposes, until the casualties became too numerous.

Hermione was sitting in the hall, just outside the infirmary, trying to regain her strength after healing Charlie. She was also doing a mental check of who was still fighting and she didn't like the numbers. She didn't know how many Death Eaters were left, but by her calculations, only Severus, Kingsley and possibly a few Aurors were still at the compound.

After the mental tally, her mind wandered to an evening just a week prior when Severus and the Order had argued about his presence during the battle.

" _...done all I could," Kingsley said, a look of remorse in his eyes. "Severus, it seems, has no choice but to fight."_

 _Hermione knew the truth, having just had an explosive row with the impossible man himself. He would have fought whether he was being forced or not. He had every intention of personally getting his godson and the other two Malfoys out of that compound. Hermione had argued that keeping them alive was clearly a trap, but he didn't care. '_ If it is a trap, then I'm well prepared or it!' _he had said, dismissively. Nothing she said could dissuade him._

" _This is madness!" Arthur directed his anger at Kingsley. "He's done his part. He and Hermione found the blasted Brotherhood. Not to mention his information about the Death Eaters…"_

" _Arthur, as much as I appreciate this, I'm afraid that the point is moot. I must be a part of this no matter what. It's been made clear that I face life in Azkaban otherwise," Severus explained, arms folded as he leant against the sideboard._

 _Arthur continued, undeterred. "The Death Eaters are out for your blood, Severus! I can think of no one who wants you dead more than those monsters!" He turned his face to George, who was just opening his mouth. "Not the time for jokes, son!"_

 _Charlie spoke up, "If there was a way to keep him out of the actual battle?"_

" _There isn't, Charles" Severus answered. "We're out-numbered as is."_

 _Harry chimed in, "Polyjuice? Or a Glamour?"_

 _Severus glared at the young wizard. "I won't meet my end with someone else's face, Potter."_

 _Hermione huffed from her place in the corner of the room. She had suggested both things and much more (such as hexing him unconscious and stuffing him into a broom closet) when he had told her privately an hour before before the meeting had started._

 _Just after breakfast that day, he had received a request that he Floo to the Ministry immediately. The request came by means of Kingsley and two Aurors, his escort, it seemed. As if he was some kind of common criminal! Having been gone for over two hours, Hermione knew nothing good could come from such a meeting. She also had a feeling that he wasn't the least bit surprised by the turn of events. His request several months prior to 'heal the weakness in his left side' suddenly made total sense. He knew that they would do this. He'd been preparing for it._

 _Everyone was talking at once, but Severus was looking at her. Those intense, black eyes seemed to be trying to tell her something._ What _? she mouthed._

 _That's when she felt him enter her mind. It was incredibly uncomfortable, like the pressure of a headache without the pain._

Sorry, it was the only way. Stop looking like someone just took your favourite toy.

Get out, you prick!

 _She felt him chuckle._ As soon as you stop acting like a spoilt brat, Miss Granger.

I'm worried for you, Severus. It's how people... who care about one another behave.

Now would be a good time to stop caring about me, Hermione.

 _He slipped out and turned his focus back on the arguing Order members. After the meeting, Hermione went straight to her room, shutting and locking the door. She wanted to scream. She wanted to curse someone. Not ten minutes later, Severus came striding in locking and warding the door behind him. He damn dear got himself hexed!_ Why did I even bother locking the door?

" _I couldn't look at you during the meeting, but_ this _isn't suspicious?" she asked, hands on her hips._

" _I told Molly I needed to ask you about an Arithmancy problem." He held up a report filled with figures, then tossed it onto her vanity._

" _I can't believe this is happening."_

 _He walked up and put his arms around her, pulling her into his chest. "It is and there is nothing we can do about it. I would prefer not to spend my last week fighting with you, little witch." With a kiss to the top of her her head he added, "Although I do love it when you are all riled up. Heaving breast, flushed skin… you almost gave me an erection during an Order meeting, you little minx."_

 _She smacked his bottom. "I am trying to be mad at you, you know." She couldn't help but giggle._

" _Yes, yes I know. But I cannot allow that. We have but a few days of happiness left. Let's enjoy it." He picked her up..._

Suddenly, a loud thump drew her out of her thoughts. She heard Draco shout ' _Father'_! and she took off running. Finding Mr. Malfoy lying in a heap on the floor and Kingsley breathing heavily, leaning up against the wall, she immediately started asking questions.

"Where's Severus? What happened? Why did you leave without him?"

"I lost my portkey in the fight, Hermione. He found Lucius, pushed him toward me, shoved his portkey into my hands and said his activation spell."

"Why!? Why wouldn't he just come back with you?"

Kingsley looked at her sadly. "The Carrows are still there. And Dolohov. Severus is the only one left... He said he had to try, Hermione. He said they had to pay."

" _Fuck_!" she shouted before lunging for the door, but was stopped by a pair of arms around her middle.

"Stop, Granger! Damnit, hold still!" Draco shouted.

"Let me fucking go, Malfoy!"

Suddenly she was tossed to Harry. In the process, Draco managed to wrench her wand away from her. She struggled with Harry as Draco grabbed her face in his hands.

"Take care of my dad." He kissed her forehead. "I'll bring him back." He jumped over his father's limp body and ran through the door.

"Hermione, please," Harry said softly. "I have to go too." He released her, nudging her back. "Don't follow us." He dashed out the door.

Then the parade started. George and Bill Weasley rushed by, then Seamus who was still sporting a rather nasty head wound. Neville Longbottom went running past her, not even stopping for a second.

Three Aurors stumbled out of the dining room. One of them said, "Snape's in trouble?" Kingsley nodded. The Auror turned to the other two and nodded. All three of them walked out of the door.

Just then Ron walked up, a cup in his hand. "What's goin' on?"

"What's that?" Kingsley asked, pointing to the cup.

"Pumpkin juice."

Kingsley took it from him and drained it. "Snape's facing the last of the Brotherhood by himself. I'm going back."

Ron wiped his hands on his jeans and pulled out his wand. "All right. Let's go," he said before smiling at Hermione and following the Head Auror out the door.

She stood stunned for a moment then finally looked at Mr. Malfoy. Crouching down she said, "Hey, I'm gonna take care of you." Standing, she shouted for help in moving him to a bed, she couldn't waste any of her magic performing a Mobilicorpus. Besides, Draco had taken her bloody wand!

* * *

 _Well... it's a bit exciting all of a sudden. A little spoiler: We get a moment from Severus' POV in the next chapter. I'd love to hear what you all think. Thanks so much for reading. ~Lil~_


	6. Chapter 6

_Hi, hi! Everyone seemed pretty excited about Severus' POV, so here it is. Thank you all for reading! After this chapter there will be one more, an epilogue. I'm sad to see this one coming to an end, but I have others in the works. Big thanks to darnedchild for betaing for me. She's a doll!_

 _ **Warnings** : Canon typical violence **and** I make fun of a beloved children's cartoon/book series... not sorry (I'm a mom who had to put up with far too much of it!)_

 _I own nothing. Enjoy ~Lil~_

* * *

It was the end, and he knew it. Unless he could talk his way out of it, he was a dead man. His arms ached stretched as they were between the invisible bonds that held him to the wall. If he'd only been stronger. If he'd not used most of his energy to heal Charlie Weasley, then the rest of it to fight Antonin and the Carrows back enough for Kingsley to escape with Lucius, he might have had a chance. But it was worth it. And he'd managed to disfigure Alecto quite badly. It was a minor improvement, if you asked Severus.

"The losses of the day will all have been worth it to see you draw your last breath, Snape," Dolohov spit at him, inches from his face.

"Yes, yes. Revenge for my treachery. Do get on with it," Severus replied in a bored tone.

"You stood by us day after day, for years! How could you do it? How could you…"

"Oh, for the love of Merlin! Are you actually surprised that I turned on you? We were Death Eaters, what did loyalty have to do with anything?" Severus asked, trying to provoke him and either end this as soon as possible or get him to make a mistake.

"We were loyal to the Dark Lord! _Loyalty was everything!_ You cared only for the memory of your precious Mudblood!" Amycus shouted from a few feet away.

Snape rolled his eyes. It seemed that the memories he'd desperately flung at Potter in what he _thought_ might be his final moments had made their way into the Death Eater ranks. "What exactly are you waiting for? I betrayed you for a Muggle-born witch. Even in her death, she was more important than the likes of you. Finish it!"

Alecto spoke up. "You are far too eager to die, Snape. We won't be played by you again." He sneered.

 _What an idiot!_ "You have what you wanted. I know why you kept the Malfoys alive all these months, dropping me hints, giving me just enough hope. You knew I would come for my godson." He looked between the three Death Eaters. "Why belabour it?"

"Because torture is so much more fun!" Amycus chimed in.

Snape sighed deeply.

"They aren't coming for you, your Order. You've served your purpose," Dolohov added.

 _That explains why they haven't fled,_ he thought as he huffed out a laugh. "Do you actually think that this is news to me? I never counted on them _saving_ me. Why do you think I didn't even try to escape?"

Alecto looked confused. "Do you _want_ to die?"

"I won't be free, you fools! And I'd rather die than spend my life in Azkaban!"

"You don't deserve an honourable death!" Alecto growled.

 _This was almost too easy._ "Then let me go and let the Ministry have me. Either way, my life is over!"

The trio looked even more confused. _Imbeciles_! They were clearly considering it. The idea of him rotting in prison with the massive amount of their brethren that had been captured that night clearly appealed to them.

Just then Augustus Rookwood stumbled into the room. He was bleeding from what looked like a pretty nasty slicing hex to the shoulder. "What the fuck?" he shouted.

 _Shit_! Severus thought Rookwood was dead.

"Why is he still alive?" Augustus asked, pointing at Snape. "You three are the biggest morons I have ever seen! Have you been talking to him?" he asked, sounding dumbfounded.

"We were going to torture him, but…" Alecto started.

"But you thought you'd have a nice chat first?" Rookwood interrupted. "You fools! He's a bleeding genius and has probably already mind-fucked you all!"

They turned and looked at Snape with hatred and vengeance in their eyes. Drawing their wands, they all pointed them at him. He felt curse after curse hit his body. The pain was beyond excruciating. He instantly bit through his lip, trying to stifle his screams, but it was no use.

He recognised each of their curses.

 _Crucio._

 _Os_ _intermissum.*_

 _Secare-_ _carnicula.*_

The first time he'd been at death's door, it had been Lily that he had looked to for strength. Strength to let go. This time it was different. This time he didn't want to go. Even knowing that his life was worth nothing, he didn't want to leave _her_. Over the recent weeks he thought that he'd prepared himself for this moment, but now that it was upon him…

 _Oh gods...Hermione...I'm sorry...I should...I should have…I'm so sorry…you deserved more...gods, it hurts…_

He tried to picture her face. He focused on her lovely eyes, her mouth. He recalled her voice, moaning his name. The pain was killing him. He felt his broken bones, his torn flesh, blood dripping down his body. His mind would be next, he knew how this worked. He didn't want to lose his mind before he died. He didn't want to lose the image of the one person who brought him joy in this wretched life, but it was slipping away from him.

 _Hermione...don't leave me!_ he begged in his mind.

Suddenly she was there with him…' _Shhh, it's okay. I've got you. It won't hurt for long…'_ He practically felt her delicate hand stroking his hair. It was a memory of the night she'd healed the bite. ' _We're almost done, sir. You're doing great. Gods, you're so brave. I've never told you, have I? That I thought that you were brave? You are. The bravest wizard I've ever met. I cried and cried when I thought that we'd lost you.'_

 _I'm not brave, Hermione...I never told you…fuck…stay with me...please…_

' _I've got you, sir.'_

 _You had me from the start._

Suddenly the curses stopped, but most of the pain continued to wrack his broken body. He struggled to open his eyes. When he finally managed to pry them opened, what he saw was nothing short of remarkable. Maybe a dozen wizards were suddenly in the room, sending spell after curse after hex at his captors. He recognised Potter and some random Weasleys. Was that Longbottom? _Gods… Draco?_ What had possessed the boy to come back here?

The last thing he saw before he lost consciousness was Ronald Weasley. The ginger was severing the bonds that held him against the wall. "Let's get you home, Professor," he heard just before blackness overtook him..

* * *

"So..." Hermione said from her perch at the side of Severus' bed. She had made them move him to the library after she'd healed him. They had put a large bed in the room along with all the necessary supplies to help in his recovery. "...Dolohov is dead. I'm pretty sure Harry did that, from what I understand. And Rookwood too. No idea how that happened. The Carrows were arrested. Lucius is alive, but still recovering. We lost Dean, Severus, he died in the last push while you were rescuing Lucius. And two Aurors were killed." She wiped her eyes.

Clearing her throat, she continued, "We're the talk of the house, by the way. Professor McGonagall disapproves, _heartily_. No shock there. Ginny thought I had a mental disorder until I told her about your scrumptious arse. I think she might be onboard now. Harry and Draco approve, which is a bit odd... Oh, and Narcissa Malfoy seems to be in love with you. But I'm assuming you already know about that."

She studied him, watching the steady rise and fall of his chest. His vitals were strong. He was better, but...

"Severus... I've healed you, but… it's been hours and you're still…" She broke down at that point, sobbing into her hands.

After she had a good, long cry she curled up beside him, laid her head on his chest and held him. "I'm so tired, Severus. I need you to come back to me. I need you to tell me I'm being emotional and ridiculous." Stroking his chest she said, "I need you to hold me."

She wanted to cast a Reviving Spell on him, but she knew that she couldn't, even before Poppy had given her explicit instructions to allow him to wake up on his own. "Just wake up, you grumpy old bastard!"

There was a knock on the door, and Hermione sat up, wiping her face. "Come in," she said.

Ron walked in with a tray of food. "Mum says if you don't eat she'll come in here and force feed you. She knows the spell, 'Mione, I wouldn't test her."

"I'm not hungry, Ron."

"Well…" He sat the tray on the table beside the bed. "Just try, for me. She's on the warpath, that one. Scares me more than you do, if you can believe it."

She smiled, grabbed a roll and started picking at it.

"Attagirl," he said with a wink. He sat on the chair by the bed. "So how is he?"

"No change."

"It's only been a few hours," he offered.

"It's been more than a few hours, Ron, but I know what you're saying. I _healed_ him though. He should be back by now," she said, looking at Severus.

"Hermione… they were all taking turns cursing him."

"That's what Draco said."

"It may take a while."

She looked up. "Shouldn't you be telling me that I'm crazy? That I've lost my mind or something?"

"Nah. You're the smartest witch I know. If you think he's worth... " He looked away. "I trust your judgement, Hermione." Looking back to her, he added, "You were my friend before everything else. I just want to see you happy. And if that..." He motioned to the unconscious wizard on the bed. "If he makes you happy, then so be it."

"Ronald Weasley, I'm afraid to inform you that you've grown up."

"Yeah, well, just don't tell anyone, all right?" He smirked. "But if he ever hurts you…"

"Yes, I know. He'll have you to deal with. I'll add you to the list."

Ron left and Hermione forced herself to eat some of the food that he had brought, barely tasting it. Starving herself wouldn't make Severus wake up any faster. After she'd eaten all she could, she reached into her pocket and pulled out a crumpled piece of parchment. It was Severus' letter. She had grabbed it when she went to her room for a few things just after she had healed him and Draco, Kingsley and Harry were settling him into the library. She didn't want to have to leave him again if she could help it.

Unfolding the parchment, she took a deep breath, deciding that she was going to read it once and for all. No more putting it off.

 _My Little Witch,_

 _You will have waited to read this, of that I'm sure. Perhaps I'm already gone, or perhaps you just waited until you gave up hope. Or, maybe I'm back safe and sound, though I seriously doubt that. Either way, I know I'm right. It occurs to me as I write, that I finally have your undivided attention and you cannot interrupt me. Oh, I will enjoy this._

"Bastard," she laughed.

 _Curse me all you want, but it is the truth._

 _Take the money and find your parents. It's not much, but it's all I have. The house never brought me a moment of joy, but it may fetch you a bit of cash. My patents are the only thing of value that I own. They will continue to yield for you for years to come if you chose to keep them. Prince Potions Inc. is now yours. I understand if you would prefer to sell it, however. If Draco or Lucius survive, either of them will gladly purchase it from you and pay you a more than fair price._

 _I know you will mourn me and I should regret putting you through that, but it is difficult to find that emotion right now. At the moment I can only feel gratitude. I never thought I'd be happy, but you made my last few months on this earth joyous and immensely pleasurable. You, Hermione, made me feel truly loved for the first time in my life. I do not regret that. I simply cannot. It's selfish, I know._

 _If it becomes public knowledge that I left you my meager estate, things might get complicated for you. For that I am sorry. Kingsley promised me that he would do all in his power to prevent that from happening. No one need know that you sullied yourself with the likes of me. For your own good, tell no one._

 _I never told you that I loved you and I should have. Perhaps it's selfish to do so now, but I have a feeling that you would rather have known. I knew you loved me the night you healed the scar on my neck. It wasn't a romantic love at that point, though moments later you did kiss me senseless (actually senseless, I forgot my name for a few minutes). But the things you whispered to me, Hermione… no one has ever comforted me like that before. That night I lay in bed replaying your words over and over. It all started for me then. Not when I saw you naked, I know that's what you think, little witch, that it was simply your body that drew me to you. But it wasn't. It was your amazing heart. It's so big, so open. And, of course, your brilliant mind. Oh, and your sweet voice. I think that is what I'll hear at the end. Your voice comforting me, loving me._

 _You, my love, will do amazing things. You are not yet twenty years old and already have. I wish so much that I could be here to witness it. But let me tell you now, I am proud of you. I am proud of your mind and your spirit. I am proud of you stubbornness and unwillingness to compromise. I am so proud that I got to share just a small part of your life._

 _And I am grateful. I am grateful for your love, for your touch and even though it angered me at the time (and I haven't really said as much) I am so incredibly grateful that you rid me of the Mark. I will meet my end without that damnable stain on my body._

 _This is goodbye, dear one. Live well. Be happy. And don't marry Weasley. That's all I ask._

 _Yours Forever,_

 _Severus_

"Oh, you utter…" She stood up and tossed the letter onto the bed. It landed at his feet. "I knew it, you know! Well… I sort of knew it… or _hoped_." She folded her arms across her chest and started pacing. "So, you love me! And you were going to just go off and die!" Kicking the leg of a chair she growled, "What an arsehole!"

She kept pacing, glaring at him every once in awhile. "All these months I wondered and worried that I was getting too attached. That I was acting like some kind of love sick child! How long, Severus? How long have you felt this way?" she said to the unconscious man, then quickly turned away from him. "No! You know what? I don't'think I want to know! What I want to do is wake you up so that I can throttle you!"

"Good gods, witch! Let a man rest," came a soft mumble from the bed.

"Severus!" Hermione cried as she flung herself back towards him. "You're awake!" She cupped his face.

"Of course I'm awake. How in Salazar's name could I possibly sleep with you ranting and stomping about?" He managed a weak smirk. "You going to throttle me now?"

"I want to. But I also want to kiss you."

"Can I trouble you for water? It feels like a family of Knarls have moved into my mouth."

She poured him a glass of water as he slowly sat up, and handed it to him. He drank it down greedily. "How's that?" she asked.

"Better." He gave her back the glass. "More." After emptying it once again, he asked, "How long was I out?"

"Almost twelve hours."

"Is everyone terribly disappointed?" he asked handing her the glass and shaking off her unspoken question of 'more?'.

Hermione gave him a confused look. "Disappointed about what?"

"That I lived."

"You don't remember..? Of course you don't, you were unconscious, weren't you?" she asked as she pulled back his sheet and looked over the places where he'd been cut, carefully inspecting his body. _Not even any scars, some of my best work,_ she thought.

He looked around the room and seemed to be concentrating very hard. "I… I do remember… a lot of ginger hair."

Covering him up, satisfied with his recovery (as she should be, she had damn near killed herself healing him), she snickered. "Yes, there were quite a few Weasleys, and Harry and Draco. Also Kingsley and some of his Aurors. Oh, and Neville and Seamus. They all went back for you, Severus. So, to answer your question, no. No one is disappointed that you survived."

"Hmmm. The world has finally gone mad." He held out an arm. "Get down here, witch. My arms miss you."

She smiled broadly then snuggled under the covers up against his side. "Am I hurting you?"

"No. You've healed me, Hermione. Once again, my love, you have taken something broken and made it new again." He kissed the top of her head. "Get some rest. I know you need it."

"We _will_ be talking about that letter, you know," she said as she cuddled up against him.

"I fully expect that we will."

* * *

She didn't know how long she'd been asleep, but she woke up to voices in the hallway. Angry voices. And a lot of them. Sitting up, she looked at Severus. He had an unreadable look on his face. Suddenly, the door opened and a man she'd never met before walked in.

The best way she could have described him was that he looked like the Fat Controller from Thomas and Friends, a show she had watched as a child. He wore an old fashioned Muggle-looking suit and… a top hat. He couldn't have been more than five feet tall and morbidly obese. It might have been easier to go over him than around him. He was utterly ridiculous looking.

"Why am I not surprised to find you lying in bed with a child?" the odd-looking little man said to Severus as he walked into the room. "You disgust me, Snape."

"As you have said before, Minister," Severus replied, sounding unconcerned.

" _Minister_?" Hermione said with undisguised repulsion. " _You_?"

"Yes, ah… Miss Granger, I presume? We haven't had the pleasure. Minister Thornsberry." He held out his hand for her to shake.

Hermione just shook her head at the man and scooted even closer to Severus. "What are you doing here?"

The Minister lowered his hand awkwardly. "I'm here to observe the arrest of one of the last free Death Eaters in our world." He nodded at Severus.

"Like hell you are!" she shouted and jumped out of the bed. "You said if he completed the mission…"

"A mission that no one expected him to survive, Miss Granger!"

The room was rapidly filling with Order members.

Hermione was furious. "That's disgusting! He was always on our side, you idiot!"

"Watch your tongue, young lady. I am the Min…" he started.

"I heard! But I couldn't care less!" She looked up and found Kingsley in the crowd. "Kings! How can he do this?"

The wizard shrugged. "He's the Minister, Hermione. But I won't be a part of it. I resigned this morning."

The round little man bristled. "Indeed. I would have fired you anyway, Shacklebolt. Refusing a direct order from your superior… disgraceful."

"You and your lies, sir, are disgraceful. And I will have nothing to do with you," he said, folding his arms defiantly.

"You aren't taking him," Draco said as he pushed through the crowd to stand next to Hermione.

"And I have some questions for you too, young Mr. Malfoy. As well as your parents," the Minister said accusingly. "Once they've recovered, I will be bringing them in as well."

"Good luck with that," Draco said with a very 'Snape-like' sneer.

Harry stepped forward. "Minister," he said pointedly.

"Mister Potter." The man preened. "So good to see that you came out unscathed."

"You need to leave my house, sir."

The Minister was taken aback. "Young man, I will leave _your house_ as soon as I have the criminal Severus Snape in custody." He pointed to one of the Aurors that he'd brought with him. "Clemmons, arrest him."

Hermione looked at Severus, he was still reclined in the bed, looking almost unaffected. He made eye contact with her then raised an eyebrow. That's when she remembered that he wasn't wearing anything underneath that sheet. She smiled.

"I'm afraid I can't do that, Minister," Clemmons answered.

"What?!"

"I fought with that man yesterday, sir, I'm not arresting him today. It's not right and it's not fair."

Thornsberry grabbed a female Auror by the elbow, jerking her out of the crowd. "Daniels! You do it!"

"He saved my leg by sending me here and having Miss Granger heal me, sir, probably my life too," the Auror said. "Find someone else to do it."

The odd little man stomped his feet. "Roberts!"

A short blond haired Auror stepped out of the crowd. "It's Robertson, sir."

"Did Mr. Snape save your life at any point recently?"

"No, sir."

"Do you have some kind of misplaced loyalty to him because of the battle with the Brotherhood?"

"No," the Auror answered once again.

"Good. Arrest him."

"I don't think I will."

"What _now_?" the Minister whined.

"I'm a Slytherin, sir. Professor Snape was my Head of House ten years ago. I won't be arresting him. He talked me out of joining, you see. I wanted to be a Death Eater, but that was before the Dark Lord came back. There was still a lot of recruiting going on in Slytherin House. A lot of talk of purity and doing away with all the dirty blood. He told me the truth of things and made me take my first Wizard's Oath. I'll never forget what he did for me." He turned and looked at Severus. "Thank you, Professor."

Severus nodded.

"Fine! I'll do it myself," the Minister grumbled as he moved toward the bed. "Severus Tobias Snape, you are hereby arrested for crimes against the Wizarding World. Get up, you're coming with me."

Severus motioned for the little wizard to lean forward. He did and Severus said, "You might want to clear the room first."

"Why?" Thornsberry said with a sinister smile. "Ashamed of what you've done?"

"Oh, my reason as nothing to do with shame, I assure you." He smirked.

Hermione couldn't help but laugh.

"Then get up!"

She was about to intervene when Minerva McGonagall came bursting through the crowd. "Bernard Wellston Thornsberry! What in the devil's name do you think you're doing?" she demanded, her Scottish brogue thickly colouring her words.

"Minerva! Well… I'm… It's Snape, of course, I have to…"

"As I understood it, you were going to grant him a pardon for his participation in this mission. Isn't that right?" she asked in her sternest voice, the one that had Hermione sitting up a bit straighter.

"We had nothing in writing."

"So, that's how it is now? You say one thing but mean another? You are the Minister for Magic, Bernard, your word is your bond. If these people cannot trust you, I promise you won't last the day."

He gasped. "Is that a threat, Minerva?"

"Indeed it is." She pointed to the door. "Now leave. Severus is going nowhere!"

He stood frozen for several moments, looking over all the witches and wizards in the room. "I… well, I suppose… if you all feel like Snape has…"

"We do," Harry said.

"Fine," the Minister huffed, looking like a toddler that had just lost his playground privileges. He started to leave when Minerva spoke up once again.

"And don't forget, _Minister_ , that your position is temporary. There will be an election in a few short months."

He pushed his way through the crowd without uttering another word.

"Well, that was exciting," George Weasley said. "I thought he was actually going to blow his little top hat. He reminds me of someone, but I can't place who."

"That little ridiculous man is our Minister? _Jesus_!" Seamus exclaimed.

Harry looked at Kingsley. "Please tell me that you're running against him."

The former Auror smiled. "I am, Harry. Don't worry."

Hermione picked up her wand and a large ceramic bowl from a nearby table then addressed the crowd. "As much fun as this is, Severus needs a bath. So unless you all want to watch…"

"Damnit, Hermione!" she heard Ron say, along with "That's too much information," from someone in the back. Though she was sure she heard Ginny say, "I could stay and help!" before Molly grabbed her and pulled her from the room.

Hermione turned and looked at Severus. He was staring off into the corner of the room. "Hey, you okay?"

He nodded. "Yes. Just shocked."

She put down the bowl, then crawled onto the bed. "I wasn't kidding about the bath, you know."

"Oh, little witch," He smirked. "I was counting on it!"

* * *

 _*Don't try to find those curses, I made them up. The first one basically breaks bones and the second detaches flesh._

 _Goodness... one more to go! Please let me know how I'm doing! The epilogue isn't quite finished, but it shouldn't take long. I know what's going to happen. I love hearing from you all. Reviews make my day!_


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